Blooming
by Purple Strobe
Summary: Kat goes to Reefside for a teaching position and bumps into Tommy. They both then realize that they never quite fell out of love for one another. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers. Saban on the other hand does. So does Disney. Lucky butts wouldn't you say? Anyways, I'm not making any money out of this, so don't have a cow and don't sue me. Well, with all that out of the way, let's get started._

**A/N:** I love Tommy/Kat fics so I decided to do one of my own.

**Setting:** This fic takes place after Turbo and Kat dropped out of the Royal Academy to pursue a teaching career. (See: **Budding**/ Coming Soon) She moved back to Angel Grove, and that's where we start our story.

**Blooming**

**Coming of Age I**

**Angel Grove, California**

Two young women sat in a classroom in Angel Grove High School. Katherine 'Kat' Hillard, the teacher, was blond, tall, and beautiful; around the age of 26 and with beautiful winter blue eyes. She was sitting at her desk grading the Literature Quiz papers with a bit of disappointment on her face.

The student sitting in the front row of the classroom was somewhat short with short black hair up in two pig-tailed buns. She was sixteen, had dark green eyes, a pierced chin, and an annoying look on her face. She was laying her head on her hand while cocking it to one side and tapping her foot just staring at her teacher with a boring look.

"Um, Megan, could you please hand me the yellow slips for progress notes please. They're in the cabinets on the upper right side over there," Kat said pointing her finger to the direction of the cabinets.

"Okay, I'll get 'em for you", Megan Simmons said as she got up to get the papers Ms. Hillard had asked for.

She returned with the papers and rolled her eyes when she came upon a picture of Kat with a very attractive dark haired young man. They were both sitting on a bench at the park smiling while he had his arms around her.

"I don't know why you have this picture here" Megan commented.

"Hey, it's my picture, and my desk, so I suggest you put that down if you know what's good for you", Kat said in a joking voice.

"Alright, alright, I'm just saying he looks like a creep, that's all." Her student said, while turning around and going back to her seat.

"I think I somehow gave you the hint to have a little too much liberty in this class, Megan", Katherine said as she looked down and shook her head with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, well, I'm thankful for it, you're actually the only teacher that had the guts enough to tell me, Megan Simmons, a.k.a 'the devious one', 'a teacher's nightmare', to stay after school for detention. Those are some gonads you have there Ms. H." Megan said.

Katherine looked up at the sound of 'gonads' and was blown away with what her student had just said.

"Hey, I'll let you in on a little secret" Kat said with a sly look on her face.

"Okay, what is it?" Megan wanted to know.

"Okay, here it goes, shut up and look down, before I call the cops on you", Kat said with a barmy voice.

"DANG! Okay," Megan said as she looked down. "Oh, and let me tell you, you suck as an actress"

"Why do you say that?" Kat asked.

"Cuz you always seem to be hiding something from everyone. What is it?" She then asked her teacher.

"Well, I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you." Kat told her, in a mocking sort of way.

"Oh, come on, you mean to tell me you can't say anything cuz your life is so freakishly important and can't tell one measly student what it's about?" Megan stated in a sarcastic way.

"Well, you're right about that one." Her teacher replied, before adding, "Hey, that's the first right answer you've gotten in my class!"

"Yeah, whatever" Megan said, while sounding annoyed. "It's already four, can I go now?"

"Sure, just think about what you did" her teacher said.

"See you tomorrow Ms. H!" She said as she was heading out the door.

"Be here on time tomorrow okay?"

"We'll see." She said, as she turned to the right after heading out the door.

Katherine went back to grading papers. She was rather dumbfounded by the comment that her student had made earlier about the picture. She then slowly raised her head and looked at it. While picking it up, thinking to herself, _he doesn't look like a creep. Does he?..._

* * *

Katherine had just left her classroom and was now heading over to the school parking lot. Just before she reached the doors for the EXIT, she was stopped by an argument she heard just a couple of feet away from her.

She heard that it was two girls fighting with one another by the sounds of their voices. She then turned around and ran to the direction of the bawls.

As she got there, she saw two girls arguing back and forth at one another saying just one profanity after another.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Kat asked the two girls. "Megan, I thought you had gone home?"

"Well, I was, until this idiot bumped into me!" Megan retorted as she pointed to the other girl.

"Yeah, well I guess you should look where you're going, bitch!" Terry Olivares snapped back.

"Didn't you just hear me, I said, _you_ bumped into _me _numbskull!"

"Okay, okay, this is going to stop right now!" Kat demanded.

"Well, I was just fine until…"

Kat then cut Megan off while she repeated, "I said this is going to stop! Unless you guys want me to get Mr. Kaplan aware of this…?"

Both girls looked down and said in unison, "no".

"Okay then, you can go" Kat told Terry. She then looked at Megan and said, "_You_, come with me."

Both Kat and Megan went to the classroom and Kat motioned to Megan to sit down at the seat she was sitting in before as she sat in the seat next to it.

"Now, tell me what this is all about" Kat started.

"I already told you, she bumped into me." Megan said, with a defending tone.

"I don't mean the argument, I mean you."

"What do you mean?" Megan asked.

"You know what I mean. Ever since we came back in from vacations, you've been so untamable. Now I know we've had some problems with you before, but this is just ridiculous. You have completely crossed the line." Kat told her.

"Look, school is over, you don't have to lecture me anymore." Megan responded.

"No, see, that's where you're wrong, I can lecture you, because if you don't let me talk to you, I'm sure your parents will be able to lecture you about your little anger problem themselves." Kat advised her.

Megan then looked Kat from head to toe and back again saying, "you don't scare me".

"Okay, then, I'll be right back. I hope your parents are home because they will be receiving a little call" Kat said while getting up.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you, but you have to swear to me that you won't tell anyone about this." Megan begged as she held Kat from taking another step.

"As long as I'm keeping a secret that won't hurt you or anyone else, then yeah".

Megan began her story "It all started before the holiday break. Terry had bought me a bottle of Jack Daniels as an early Christmas gift. We decided to drink it with our friends during the break. We were so excited that we decided to celebrate it on the 20th. When all seven of us were together in my friend's room, we took out the bottle. We started drinking, and having a good time, when all of a sudden around one or so in the morning, I looked around for Terry and I couldn't find her. I then got up and went to go look for her. Just about the time when I was going to give up, I had the worst feeling and nausea overtook my body. I turned to the left and headed inside the bathroom. As I opened the door, I then saw Terry kissing a friend of mine. That's when I got mad, and I stormed out of there."

"What's wrong with that?" Kat asked confused.

"Ms. Hillard, Terry and I…" Megan couldn't seem to finish the sentence.

As Katherine got wind of this, she then raised her head in understanding. "You mean to tell me that…you're…gay?" Kat asked, still a little confused.

Megan then looked up at her teacher and nodded her head. Kat then raised an eyebrow and just nodded in now recognizing the situation.

"Well, what did she say when you saw her?" Kat then asked, trying to fill the silence of awkwardness.

"Well, the truth is Ms. K, I didn't really give her time to start speaking" she said with a smile crossing her face.

"Why's that?" she was then asked.

"Cuz, as soon as I saw her, I gasped, and then as she took one step towards me, I threw up all over her shoes." She then replied with a small chuckle.

Katherine couldn't help but laugh as she imagined the site it would have been.

"Ms. K, please don't tell anyone about this, especially the other teachers." Megan begged again.

"Okay, just be careful, okay?" She told Megan while rubbing her arm. "And don't get into any fights about this. I know it hurts, but you have to give it some time." Kat reassured.

"Thanks Ms. K. I appreciate it." She answered sincerely.

"And I appreciate you talking to me. Although you were a little forced into it, but still, appreciated." Kat said smiling.

"Yeah, well, I'm glad you kind of blackmailed me on this one, I feel a little better letting it out you know?" Megan said.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Just know, whenever you need anyone to talk to, I'm here okay?"

"Okay." Megan said, now smiling herself.

* * *

As Kat was again walking to the parking lot, she felt a feeling of pride having tamed such a insurgent and radical student. She couldn't help but mentally pat herself on the back as she got in her Mineral Grey 2005 Ford Mustang GT with black leather interior. _I hope I got through to her somehow_…she thought, as she drove off to her apartment.

* * *

The next morning, Katherine awoke feeling as if the birds were chirping just for her. She smiled as she got up; which was something she would rarely do in the morning (smile). She went into the shower and was still smiling inside for what had happened the day before.

A moment later, she turned on the television to hear the morning news as she continued to get ready for work.

After a good twelve to fifteen minutes of news, the newscaster then stated, '…a teenage girl from Angel Grove High named Teresa Olivares was found shot late yesterday afternoon in an ally of her own neighborhood. The young girl was just yards away from her house when she was allegedly shot in the back by the count of four shots, by which one of those hit her directly on the lower part of the lumbar region just above the coccyx. She's thought to be in the Intensive Care Unit in Angel Grove Memorial Hospital…"

Katherine, having heard this instantly ran to the television, where she froze as she continued to hear what happened.

* * *

As Katherine opened the door to the High School, she was instantly stopped by a man dressed in all black. He proceeded to ask her for her ID and looked for weapons through her belongings. She was dazed with so much commotion that was going on, that she didn't even want to ask any questions. When they were finished with her, they let her pass.

She did not though go to her classroom, but headed in the direction of the principle's office. As she made her way through the crowd, by for some reason, the school looked a lot more crowded and unorganized as usual. She looked around and saw kids crying and some were hugging each other for comfort. Others were just kicking a hacky sack while in a circle, while others were just simply sitting on the near benches just talking.

As she got to Mr. Kaplan's office, there was a huge line of teenagers and parents. Alongside, were police officers and investigators. Katherine shoved her way through to get to Mr. Kaplan's office but was then told by a nearside administrator that she was to go back to her classroom and wait for further notice. She understood the circumstances and did as she was told.

* * *

That afternoon as school was letting out, Kat wondered why Megan had not shown up for school that day. She was drifting her mind back and forth towards the talk the day before and asking herself if it could be related to the shooting. She would then snap herself back into reality and tried to convince herself once more that it could not had been.

Katherine then decided to talk to Mr. Kaplan about the situation between Megan and Terry. As she got up, she rethought it once again in her head. _What if it has nothing to do with Megan? Yet, what if it does? But what if I say something and it comes out to be someone else; Megan will never trust me again. _Katherine at this point was pacing back and forth. _But what if it was Megan and I get in trouble for knowing this? I'll just have to take my chances. It's either my career, or a student's trust. Oh my God! What am I going to do? Think Katherine. Think. _She then stopped and snapped her fingers_. I've got it! I'll just go talk to Mr. Kaplan as any other concerned teacher, and I'll just ask if they've found any leads._ Katherine got her courage, and left the room, but not without one last thought. _Oh God, I hope he doesn't see right through me._

Katherine arrived at Mr. Kaplan's office shortly after leaving her classroom. She made sure no one was around to hear their conversation.

"Um, hello? Mr. Kaplan?" she said, while knocking on the open door and looking right at him.

Mr. Kaplan looked up in frustration and with tired eyes, "yes, oh, Katherine, what is it dear?"

"Well, I was just wondering if you've heard from the hospital? Is everything alright with Terry?"

"Oh, yes, she's out of the ICU, but she is still under observation. The doctors are waiting for her to come through it, but she's out of death's hands. But they do fear that she will never be able to walk again." He stated with disappointment in his voice.

"Oh, God,… well, do they at least know who would do such a horrible thing?"

"Well, the police are still investigating it, but they do think it's gang related."

"Oh, man. I hope she's ok." Katherine said, trying to hold back the tears.

"Yes Katherine, we all hope that".

And with that, Katherine left the office silently but with a knot in her throat.

_Man, why didn't I tell him._ She thought_. I was right there. The opportunity was there. Should I go back and speak with him about this. Oh, man, what am I going to do?_

She sat at her desk tapping her nails against the wood. She was looking out into blankness when she didn't notice someone enter the room.

Katherine jumped at the voice as it took her out of her thought, "Ms. Hillard? Are you ok?"

"Oh, hi Megan. Wait a minute…Megan? Why didn't you come to class? Did you hear about what happened last night? Where were you? Where did you go after you left the school? Do you know who did this?..."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, one question at a time." Megan said, while raising her hands in the surrender position by stepping backwards.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Kat replied in a calm adjusting voice. "Why weren't you in class today?"

"Okay, let me get this straight, my ex-girlfriend, which I still love by the way, is in the hospital because some jackass shot her. She is in the ICU fighting her life to the fullest, paralyzed probably, God knows how she looks, and your first question to me is 'why weren't you in class today?' I don't understand where you're coming from Ms. K, I mean, come on, you've got to have something better than that!" Megan angrily replied holding back the tears.

Katherine, having seen the tears she was trying to seize, got up and went to her student's aid. She hugged her profusely, while caressing her black hair softly. Kat knew she couldn't say anything to make her feel better nor could she think of anything of importance to say to her. Although, there was a small doubt in her mind which kept crossing her brain here and there that maybe Megan was behind the shooting. She would let it go for now, because her alumnus was needing her help and Katherine was going to be there for her.

* * *

That night, Katherine walked over to her address book and skimmed through the written blurred out pages. The address book was black, with so many addresses; it was difficult to see when one began and when one ended. Almost the entire book was written on with different colored inks, yet an abundance of black and blue though. She scanned through it soaring almost until she found the name she was looking for. She then dialed the eleven-digit number and waited for the phone to be obtained on the other line. To her surprise at this time of night there was an answer.

"_Hello?"_ a sleepy voice came through the other line.

"Um, hello, Tanya?"

"_Yeah, Kat is that you?"_ still replying in a sleepy voice.

"Yes, Tanya, I really need to talk to you. I think I'm in big trouble." Kat countered in a worried yet heartrending voice.

* * *

That morning Katherine was one-hundred percent sure at what action she needed to take. The long talk with her friend really put things in perspective for her. She knew what she had to do, but needed a little budge at that. With the huge help of her very best friend, Tanya Sloan, she headed right into Mr. Kaplan's office.

"Mr. Kaplan, I need to speak with you" Kat uttered, in a somewhat shouting way.

"Yes Ms. Hillard, we do need to talk," he responded very stern.

* * *

As Katherine quickly made her way to her car, she could still here those words shouting and piercing in her brain in a thunderous way. 'I apologize Ms. Hillard, but you have been terminated from this school…I'm sorry to have to say this, but, you're fired. That word, that word that wiped her completely from this school. FIRED, TERMINATED, _oh my God, how could I get fired? That little monster ratted me out. After all I tried to do for her. I still can't believe she ratted me out! _

She frankly didn't know how she was supposed to be feeling. Mad at either the point that she had been snitched on, or the fact that she had been fired for the sake of keeping a secret from the school and administration.

_I guess it was my fault; after all, I 'did' take the choice of waiting too long and just wanting to witness how this turned out. _She thought as she was driving home. What she couldn't believe the most is Megan, her student, had shot Terry. She thought she had gotten through to her. _Oh my God, maybe it was something I said that made her get pushed to the edge. Then again, I did tell her to give it time. Oh, my God, what am I going to do now?_

"_OH, SHIT!"_ She yelled as she stepped on the brake pedal as hard as she could do to barely noticing the dog crossing the street at a dawdling speed. She couldn't stop in time and hit the dog with such force making it shriek in pain before it flew a couple of three feet away from her car. "Oh my God, my car!" she yelled.

* * *

After she got home, she took a long shower and made herself dinner. She then realized she was just too upset to eat and just ended up putting it in the refrigerator wrapped in foil.

She went to the address book again to call Tanya when she immediately thought, _No, why am I going to call Tanya? She's not my mother; and even if she was, why am I going to call her to make my decisions. It's about time I wake up and start living my own life without having so much help all the time. Maybe that way, I could actually appreciate what I do and stop thanking others for their advise. If I make a mistake, I have only myself to blame. If I make a good choice, I have myself to reward._

There must have been a lesson in all of this she thought, because somehow, it made her rather grow up a little than rely on someone's advice. She was no longer scared of making her own decisions, and taking control of her own life.

* * *

**A/N: **I don't know if any of you noticed, but I made some changes to the story. It's going to be shorter because I'm going to put it together better. I hope you guys will like it because I want it to be a bit shorter and easier to understand without so many parts to it, because some parts are really short. I'm trying to come out with a bit of a trilogy here. This will be the middle of it. I'll come out with the beginning later. Well, anyways, please review. 


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. There will be lyrics to a song in here that definitely does not belong to me. ILLEGAL: Featuring Carlos Santana / Lyrics by Shakira / Music by Shakira and Lester Mendez / Performed by Shakira._

**A/N:** There will be no fighting scenes, my other fics have them, but I need to post them. Sorry.

**Blooming**

**Chapter 2 / Coming of Age II**

**Reefside, California**

"Okay class, that's all for today…and don't forget to read chapter six over the weekend; we'll be discussing it on Monday." Tommy Oliver said to his science class, although he confidently knows about half of the class was the only one that heard him having them all scramble out of his class glad that it was a Friday. They were all heading out of Reefside High School except for four students which stayed behind to chat with their teacher.

"Man, you really have a way with teens, Dr. O" Conner, one of his students told him mockingly.

"Hey, if I were you, I'd use that mind on homework, not a way to come up with jokes." Trent told Conner.

Kira, and Ethan laughed, while Tommy cracked a small smile.

"Hey, has anyone seen that huge poster they put outside the mall the other day?" Kira asked, striking conversation, hoping someone else had noticed the half black-half white poster placed just outside the entrance.

The guys all gave each other joking looks then burst out laughing amongst themselves. As they chuckled, Ethan asked with a sly look on his face, "Do we look like we're going to go to the mall and actually notice anything else but girls in there?"

"Besides, what gave you the idea to come up with that comment out of the blue like that?" Conner asked her.

Kira, feeling offended and somewhat embarrassed, punched Conner playfully on his arm and added, "Shut up dork, no one tells you anything when you say something out of the blue." She then paused for a bit then said, "Oh wait, yeah we do, it's an everyday thing for you. Let me take that punch back." She said while punching him playfully again.

"Man, I'm hungry," Trent spoke up. To everyone's surprised having it come out of his mouth and not Conner's everyone exaggerated their looks of surprise at him. "What, is Conner the only one who can come out with something out of the blue like that?"

"When it comes to food, yeah." Tommy said, causing the others to laugh; even Conner.

After a second of silence of the laugh Conner then added, "Hey!", causing everyone to laugh again.

Trent then continued to speak, "so, Dr. Oliver, going to Hayley's with us?"

"Um, well, I can't right now, but I'll catch up with you guys later. I have some errands to run first." Tommy explained.

"Okay, let's go guys", Trent said, waving everyone out the door.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Asked Kira, noticing Trent's hurry to go.

"I told you guys, I'm hungry" he said.

"I second that, so let's go and grab something or I'm gonna faint" Conner said trying to raise a laugh out of everyone again, but did not succeed. They all just grabbed their stuff and left saying their goodbyes to their Science teacher.

* * *

After he had left the High School, Tommy made his way to his black jeep. He got in throwing his stuff and letting it fall on the passenger seat of the truck. As he retrieved his keys from his pant pocket he thought, _ok, time for yet another boring weekend._ He turned on the engine before heading to Reefside Market for his weekend grocery shopping.

Upon arriving there, he came across this beautiful woman with deep brown eyes. She was of average height, with beautiful long flowing brown hair. He couldn't help but notice her right away as she made her way to get a shopping cart. Tommy quickly stepped about three quick paces to get a shopping cart for himself. He had made it just in time for the woman to look at him and smile. He then returned the warm smile along with a nod and a smoother "hello" than he might have gone for.

"Hello", she countered.

The woman made her way to her shopping leaving Tommy wondering a '_what if'_.

Tommy did his grocery shopping like any other Friday, but today had a little special something. He couldn't quite put his finger on it. He then thought about that woman he had just met a while before and it stopped him dead in his tracks having seen her right in front of him a couple feet away looking at tomatoes. He made his way to the tomatoes hoping to have something interesting to say. As he made his way there, he couldn't think of anything and started panicking. _Oh, man, what am I going to say, Hello again? No, that's stupid. Come on, I used to be able to talk to girls without any problem. Hell, I have a Ph. D in Palaeontology. I should be picking up girls left and right. Okay, here it goes. Damn, what do I say?_

"Oh, hello again" the woman said as she turned around putting the small bag in the cart.

"Oh, hi" he said.

"Coming to get tomatoes?" she asked.

"Yeah," he lied.

"Well, let me tell you, they're plump, but a little too flimsy, here, don't you think?" she said while handing a random tomato from the bunch.

He received it. _Well, not an interesting conversation, but I'm talking to her none the less_. "Oh, yeah." He said, holding the tomato in his hand acting as if examining it with his touch. He then added, "but you know, I have to confess, I don't know much about picking the right fruits and vegetables."

"Oh, it's not that hard, just look for white or green mouldy decay" she joked.

Tommy laughed at her comment, liking her sense of humor. He then had to think of something quick to say to her so she wouldn't leave.

"Ah, but how do you check for meat?" He asked.

"Hmm" she thought, then shook her head, "I don't know, how?"

"Look at the price, and make you decision" he said, trying to keep the conversation going.

She chuckled a little at that. "You know, you're right. They do put the highest prices on the good meats. They should make a 'lean meat day' having every expensive meat sold at 99 cents a pound."

"Yeah, but in that day, I'm pretty sure the butchers will choose the meat with white and green decay on it" he responded making her laugh this time.

He gave her a smile, and then asked, "um, are you doing anything this weekend?"

She looked surprised but answered while shaking her head, "no".

"Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" he asked in a diffident voice.

"I'd love to" she replied. "My name's Julia Ferguson by the way. But you can call me Julie."

"Thomas Oliver, but you can call me anything you'd like." He said with a grin.

"Well, 'anything you'd like', here's my number." She joked while writing it down on a piece of paper along with her name.

He blushed as he reached out and took hold of it realizing he had jumped into that one.

"I'll call you tonight," he said, while turning around.

She then took her cart saying, "I'll be expecting it."

He then made his way to the front to pay for his groceries.

* * *

The next night was one Tommy had been waiting for since the day before with great anticipation. He was sitting across from a beautiful young woman he had met just yesterday.

_Wow, this is great, but why does she keep talking about her looks?_ He thought. _Oh, no, she's,… dare I say it,… CONCIETED! _He couldn't help chuckle a bit at the way he was thinking, just playing with his mind like that made him wonder if he was really rid of his inner child.

"What are you laughing at?" She asked in a somewhat annoyed voice.

"Hmm. Oh, nothing, just an inside joke" he responded innocently.

"Oh, well, I like jokes, what is it?"

"A horse walks into a bar,…" Tommy began.

"Oh, God, no thank you, I've heard this one. But, why were you laughing while I was talking to you? Does my face remind you of a joke with a horse in it? Because all I could say is that there are plenty of other guys wanting to sit in your spot right there Thomas," She said while pointing at him, "and you are one of the lucky ones that got to be sitting here…"

All Tommy heard in his mind was, _'me, me, me, me, me, me, me',_ he couldn't help it smile and look down at his thought again. _Oh man, it's been too long since I've gotten one of these._ He again chuckled at his thought. With that, she had the last straw and asked Tommy to take her home. _Gladly_, he thought.

* * *

**Angel Grove, California**

Katherine walked along the grassy pasture of Angel Grove Park. She had her arms crossed in front of her letting the fresh breeze hit her face gently as she closed her eyes and thought about the events that had happened just two months ago.

The two girls came into her head, as if the dramatic scene had happened just yesterday…

"_Didn't you just hear me, I said, you bumped into me numbskull!"_

"_Okay, okay, this is going to stop right now!"_

"_Well, I was just fine until…"_

"_I said this is going to stop! Unless you guys want me to get Mr. Kaplan aware of this…?"_

"_no".

* * *

_

_"You mean to tell me that…you're…gay?" _

_

* * *

_

_"…a teenage girl from Angel Grove High named Teresa Olivares was found shot late yesterday afternoon in an ally of her own neighborhood. The young girl was just yards away from her house when she was allegedly shot in the back by the count of four shots, by which one of those hit her directly on the lower part of the lumbar region just above the coccyx. She's thought to be in the Intensive Care Unit in Angel Grove Memorial Hospital…"_

_

* * *

_

_"I apologize Ms. Hillard, but you have been terminated from this school…I'm sorry to have to say this, but, you're fired."_

_

* * *

_Her thoughts were then broken when her cell phone rang with a familiar ring-tone. 

She didn't recognize the number at first, but when she looked closer, she instantly answered it.

"Hello?" She said.

"_Yes, good morning, may I please speak with Ms. Katherine Hillard please, this is Rosie from Reefside High School."_ A woman on the other side said.

"Oh, yes, this is she" Katherine replied with enthusiasm in her voice.

"_Ms. Hillard, I'm calling on behalf of the office of Admissions. We've received your application via e-mail along with your resumé. Are you still interested in the position for a Literature teacher here at Reefside High?"_ Rosie asked.

"Yes, I am" Kat replied.

"_Great, we would appreciate it if you would come by tomorrow at four in the afternoon for an interview. Is that alright?"_ she asked.

"Oh, yes, that's fine. Thank you." Kat said.

"_Oh righty then, see you tomorrow Ms. Hillard."_ Rosie said in a bliss way.

"Ok, and thank you again" Kat replied.

"_You're welcome, bye."_

"Bye."

Kat felt like soaring through the sky. She felt like cheering to the top of her lungs and just screaming out into the world. She was happy for the fact that she had gotten the interview, but she was actually more happy about getting the interview somewhere out of Angel Grove completely.

_I can't believe this is happening. It took a little longer than expected, but I've got an interview! By this time I would have bet I would've had about five offers on the table. Guess they don't need that many teachers as I thought. Oh, better get home._

* * *

Katherine arrived home and quickly got the phone.

"Hey, guess what… I got an interview!..."

After she hung up the phone, she picked it up again and booked the next flight to Reefside, which was departing tomorrow at four in the morning. _Well, it won't be pleasant, but it would be worth it._

She then went to her room and started packing for her flight.

_Hmm, what should I pack? A dress suit of course. How long should I pack for? Then again, it can't be a lot, _she thought as she was gathering her things and placing them inside the small luggage bag_. If the landlord sees me, he'll think I'm moving out and not keeping the lease. Then again, that's what I'm gonna do. I should just pack very lightly, I may not get the job after all. Oh, what am I saying, I have to be confident. Yet, not too confident. Okay, why did I leave my last job? Cuz I was fired for keeping a deep dangerous secret from the administration which cost a child her legs. Okay, I shouldn't think like that, it'll only bring me down. Well, then again, they 'are' gonna ask me that question. What am I supposed to say?_

She went over to her stereo and put in her Oral Fixation Vol. 2 CD. There was one particular song in there that captured the way she felt exactly. She turned the track to number three and let it play:

_Who would've thought that you could hurt me_

_The way you've done it_

_So deliberate, so determined_

_And since you have been gone_

_I bite my nails for days and hours_

_And question my own questions on and on_

_So tell me now, tell me now_

_Why you're so far away_

_When I'm still so close_

_Chorus:_

_You don't even know the meaning of the words "I'm Sorry"_

_You said you would love me until you die_

_And as far as I know you're still alive, baby_

_And you don't even know the meaning of the words "I'm Sorry"_

_I'm starting to believe it should be illegal to deceive_

_A woman's heart_

_I tried so hard to be attentive_

_To all you wanted_

_Always supportive, always patient_

_What did I do wrong?_

_Been wondering for days and hours_

_It's clear it isn't here where you belong_

_Anyhow, anyhow_

_I wish you both all the best_

_I hope you get along_

_Chorus:_

_You don't even know the meaning of the words "I'm Sorry"..._

_Chorus:_

_You don't even know the meaning of the words "I'm Sorry"..._

_Open heart, open heart_

_It should be illegal to deceive a woman's heart_

_Open heart, open heart_

_It should be illegal to deceive a woman's heart_

She thought about her High School years. Tommy was…and still _is_ the love of her life. She didn't even know what went wrong. After she left school, she went to the Royal Academy, and she had heard that he got back with Kimberly. She confronted him about it, yet he denied it. She felt she couldn't trust him, even though he was telling her that he loved her. **_(Well, that's a different story.)_**

* * *

**Refside, California**

Katherine arrived at Reefside at about 10:15 a.m. The flight had been delayed, but it wasn't much to worry about, seeing as it was still too early to panic.

She took a cab to Holiday Inn. As soon as she got her room card, she decided to take a nap.

Surprisingly enough, once she stepped inside of it, she didn't quite feel sleepy, so she decided to take a shower instead.

When she came out of the shower, she felt exhaustion over taking her entire body. She then thought that a small nap would be good. She went to the bed and sat down. She got the alarm clock and set it for 2:20. As she put her head on the pillow, she quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Katherine was woken up by the sound of a very annoying alarm. _Better get up and get ready for that interview_, she thought. As she opened her eyes, she didn't quite know why it was dark.

"What? Why's it dark?" she thought out loud.

She looked at the clock to her right and it read 2:20 a.m.

_Oh, shit, Katherine, you stupid ass. You set the alarm at 2:20 in the morning. Shit, what the hell am I going to do now? _She got up out of bed and started pacing around. She literally didn't know what to do! _Oh my God! What am I going to do?_ She kept thinking to herself.

She, for some reason, kept pacing around still glancing at the clock over and over again as if she still couldn't believe it. _Okay, I guess I'll just have to go to Reefside High tomorrow and speak to someone there in person. I hope they don't turn me away. Damn, Kat, how could you have been so stupid? _She kept yelling within herself.

* * *

The next morning at 7:11 a.m. she called a cab to pick her up at the hotel.

It arrived when she was just putting on the tiniest bit of lip gloss on her lips to make them shine a little.

She grabbed her purse and resumé folder and headed out the door.

* * *

She arrived at the school at 7:33 a.m.

_Oh man, am I nervous. I don't even know where to go. _As she was thinking that, she looked to her left and read a sign which read 'All visitors report to administration' with a left arrow on it. _Okay, I guess it's the left, but where do I go from there?_ To her luck, the office was right _to _her left as she went in.

"Um, hello" Katherine said, not trying to sound nervous without succeeding.

"Good morning, I'm Rosie, how may I help you" Rosie said, with a sweet smile. She was sitting behind the long desk separating the waiting lounge from the offices behind her. Her hair was a dyed burgundy pulled up in a bun. She had a nice physique although a little thick around the edges.

She smiled at Katherine with a beam that made her feel comfortable to be there.

"Hi, my name is Katherine Hillard. I had an interview here yesterday, but I couldn't make it, my flight got cancelled," she lied. Then she added a very sincere, "I'm sorry".

"Oh, I'm not the one you should be apologizing to dear. Let me give Robert a call. He's the one that performs the interviews. Just take a seat and I'll let you know what happens." She told Kat in a sweet voice motioning her to sit down on the sofas provided.

As Kat turned to go sit down, she couldn't help it be a little intrigued, _Hmm, Robert. Yes, he's a man. I can maybe smile, not quite flirt, but put on some girly charm and maybe he'll forget about yesterday. A little evil, but, whatever gets the job done._

Robert, a somewhat tall, chubby man with a light blond mustache came to the lounge with a look of frustration and annoyance in his eyes; which went away when he looked in Katherine's direction. He smiled at her as he extended his arm to meet his. "Hello, Ms. Hillard I presume?"

Katherine, flashing her best smile as she replied, "Yes, Mr…?

"Powel," he finished her sentence. "Robert Powel".

"I'm sorry about yesterday…" Katherine began, before getting cut off by Mr. Powel.

"Oh, no, don't worry about it. You're here now, and that's what matters. Come on inside, let's start with the interview shall we?" He said in a nice, caring tone.

"Alright," Kat said while getting up to follow Mr. Powel inside his office.

* * *

Katherine sat on the couch of the hotel, speaking on her cell phone…

"Thanks, you know how much I've wanted to get back to work. It's only for three months, but if I make this work, they can place me in a more permanent position for next year. Besides, they really need a teacher; they've had a substitute for 2 weeks now. As the sub called to say she couldn't make it today, I walked in the office. How lucky is that? Mr. Powel was telling me they really needed a teacher, and fast. Especially when Mr. Smith called in that he won't be returning for his teachings…

"Oh, I don't care about the reason, I actually got the job! I'm lucky she called in just in time, she practically handed me the job. Mr. Powel asked me if I could start right away…

"It was fine. The students were really nice. I guess since I'm the newbie and all…

"Oh, yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about too. I want you to go to my apartment and get my things little by little, so the landlord doesn't suspect anything. I need you to go over at night though. Could you do that for me, please?...

"On Saturday…

"Yes, this Saturday. I'll go pick up my car and put some things in it. I'll drive it back…

"I'll be fine. Don't worry about it…

"I know it's two days until Saturday. I know you can get my things out by then…

"Yes you can…

"Why? Where are you going?...

"Oh, really? Well, I guess it could wait…

"Alright, bye." And with that hung up her phone.

Katherine was still thrilled about the whole idea of getting a new job. She got up and went to her luggage and got out her planner…

* * *

**A/N: **It looks like a short story now; since Ibrought the chapters together, but I think it's a lot better this way. Well, any ways, I hope you guys really like the story.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 3 / Oh, What Convenience**

**Reefside, California**

That Thursday, Katherine showed up at Reefside High extra early to catch up on her plans and future teachings. She started looking for papers, files, and a lot more around the cabinets, trying to get familiar with the place and to figure out which students are going to get the rough report cards at the end of the year.

"Oh, hello Ms. Hillard," said a fellow Reefside High teacher. "My name is Mrs. Foster. You can call me Edna." She said, while extending her hand to greet Katherine.

"Hi, nice to meet you; but you can call me Kat" she replied.

Edna Foster was about 5' 9", of African descent. She was around her early 50s yet didn't look a day over 40. She had short black hair flowing down. It was fake, yet still beautiful. Katherine could tell she was very nice. She was dressed in a dark blue track suit with the Reebok logo on the upper left side of the suit.

"I teach, history, economics, government, and track," Edna stated. Then asked, "what are you teaching here child, my you're _young._"

"Well, I'll be teaching Literature for two freshmen classes and three senior classes. And thank you, but I'm not as young as I'd like to be," Kat said with a smile, a small chuckle, and a bit of a blush on her face.

"Oh, let me tell you, with age comes wisdom. Our life is a pyramid of steps. As soon as you see that first wrinkle on your face, just _know_ that it's your first step up the entire woman empire. Once you hit each one, just know you will be getting brighter and brighter; not by the warmness of the sun, child, but from the intelligence in our mind." She said with her eyes meeting Katherine's and not letting them out of her sight.

"Wow,…I never looked at it that way before" she confessed.

"Just know, child, many of us might seem old, but we've been there and back. By the time you're going, I had already been there, sat down, taken a nap, and hitched a ride back." She said in a prudent voice.

Katherine, not knowing what to say after that just nodded her head and smiled slightly in comprehension.

"Well, it's getting late, I have to meet the track team and give them a couple of words of wisdom before the final meet." She said, before heading to the door.

"Good luck," said Katherine.

"Oh, thank you. Hope to see you at lunch time, I didn't see you in the lounge yesterday. I better see you today child. You really have to put some meat on them bones of yours" she advised Kat looking at her from head to toe with a smile on her face.

"Okay", she said chuckling, "I'll try."

Mrs. Foster then left the room and headed for the field.

* * *

By lunchtime, Tommy was still in his classroom getting his keys. He would go to the Teacher's Lounge to greet the new teacher, then head on over to Hayley's Cyberspace for lunch.

Tommy had already gotten wind of a new teacher being there at Reefside High. He had heard her name was Hillard, but couldn't get her first name. He raised his hopes, then dropped them again by thinking it was Kat, then thinking it was not.

As he made his way to the lounge, he started getting a little sweaty and thought, _why am I getting sweaty? It's not like if it's actually her. God, I really hope it is though. Then again, what would she be doing in Reefside anyways? It's not like she would take up teaching after going to such a famous school like the Royal Academy. Then again, it 'is' a small world. Na', it can't be her._ He finished his thoughts as he made his way inside the lounge.

Inside the lounge, he looked around to see if he found a familiar face. He didn't, although, he _did_ in fact see a woman at about 5' 7" turning her head around. He could feel his heart stop for an instance as the woman turned completely around. She had long flowing blond hair with the prettiest light green eyes one would ever see. _Oh, damn, _he thought.

He made his way towards her to introduce himself then to get out of there as soon as possible.

"Hello, I'm Thomas Oliver, I teach Science, one of my hobbies you know." He said, trying to speed it up as much as he could.

"Well, nice to meet you Mr. Oliver, my name is Kathy. I'm sub-" she got cut off by a large thump. One of the other teachers had accidentally dropped his coffee on the table while the others who were sitting at the same table stood up with the fear of getting burned.

Seeing his chance, he quickly said, "oh, well, it was nice meeting you Kathy, but I really have to go. Hope you have a great time here at Reefside High." With that, Tommy turned and made his way out of the lounge.

"Thanks," Kathy said in an undertone with a bit of confusion.

As Tommy was making his way out of the lounge, the door opened and in walked a woman with earlobe level short blond hair. He felt his blood rush to his head. He started feeling weak, as if he was going to pass out. He just stood there,…frozen. He couldn't breathe then actually after a second realized that he had to inhale.

Tommy blocked the entry, while she blocked the exit. Both of their eyes widened at the sight they had in front of one another.

_Oh, my God, _went through each of their heads.

"Kat?" Tommy asked in a voice with such excitement behind it.

Kat raised her eyebrows, and couldn't believe what she was seeing. She opened her mouth slightly, but nothing came out. No 'hello', no 'hi', no 'how you been?'…nothing.

"Oh my God, what are you doing here? I thought…I thought you were back in London in the Royal Academy?"

He waited for a second. After he didn't hear a response, he thought if she had at least _recognized _him.

"Kat,… it's me,… Tommy." Tommy gestured with his hands on his chest as if speaking to a person with a bad case of amnesia.

Finally, something came out of her mouth, "Tommy? What…what happened to your hair?" Is the only thing that came out.

Tommy blushed at her reaction and rubbed the top of his head which was spiked upward saying, "well, I cut it a while after you left Angel Grove."

Kat, then realizing what they were talking about, snapped back into reality, "I mean,… it's good to see you!" she said, wrapping her arms around him.

Tommy opened his arms as he saw her coming to cling on to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he wrapped his around her mid-back. He pulled her in a little as he closed his eyes, cocking his head towards the left side of her neck and breathing in her wonderful, kissable-like smell.

She felt his embrace on her. She too closed her eyes as she hugged him tighter. His smell brought back so many memories for her like the night she first felt his soft lips press against her linger body when they first made love back in high school. The memory she would hold on to for a lifetime:

* * *

_It was Friday, December 12, 1996; on a fresh winter night, five months into their relationship, inside a warm cabin. The two of them decided to spend the night together after being certain they had not been spending as much time together as they pleased._

_Tanya was nice enough to spend the night at their friend Sherry's house, making Katherine's mom believe they were both spending the night there. Tanya was always there for her dear friend whenever she needed her, and vice versa._

_They were sitting on a loveseat before the fireplace holding each other in their arms. Tommy looked down and kissed his girlfriend's forehead before saying, "man, there is no one in the world I'd rather be here with, Kat."_

_She looked up with devotion in her eyes, as she said those lyrics to her boyfriend's heart, "I love you, Tommy"._

"_I love you too." He countered._

_She then leaned up against his features and opened her mouth while closing her eyes firmly._

_He too leaned his head towards her and closed his eyes, meeting her with a passionate kiss, which he felt she returned with the same amount of passion; but with something she had never kissed him with before; lust. As they were infatuated with each other's kisses, her tongue circling inside his mouth aroused him. She retrieved it, only to have his come in behind hers as she welcomed it by gently sucking his tongue enough to get a small moan out of him._

_She put her hand softly on him, covering his ear, while she rose from her sitting posture to turn and get up on him on a straddle position. She laid her body up against his, pushing him slightly backward._

_He ran his hands from the top of her back to caressing her curvaceous butt; compressing his fingers tight against it…_

* * *

They separated after a few seconds of hugging.

"Its been too long, Kat." Tommy sighed.

She smiled saying, "well then, I guess we should make up for lost time"

"I think we _should._" Tommy agreed. "How's lunch at Hayley's Cyberspace sound."

"It sounds good,…as long as it's on you" she joked.

"Well, it's good then." He answered.

"_My_ appetite, _your_ car." She said.

With that said, they both headed to Hayley's Cyberspace with a huge smile on both their faces.

* * *

Tommy and Katherine were on their way to Hayley's Cyberspace for lunch in Tommy's jeep.

"So, have you been here long?" Tommy inquired.

"No, I just got here yesterday." Kat answered.

"Well, how have you liked it so far?"

"Oh, it's nice. I haven't seen much of it yet, but I like what I've seen so far." She said.

"And, how have you been getting around?"

"I call a cab to pick me up from the hotel to school and from school to the hotel. I'm picking up my car on Saturday." She responded.

He then thought for a moment and asked, "well, why don't you let me pick you up tomorrow at your hotel and drive you to school? Then, I'll just drive you back."

"Oh, no, it's ok, it's just for one more day."

"Come on, I'll feel awful if you have to call a cab having me knowing that you need a ride." He carried on.

"Well, alright." She said with a smile that made Tommy melt.

* * *

At Hayley's Cyberspace, Tommy and Kat were just talking up a storm about each other's life and how they both have been doing and been up to; as Conner, Ethan, Kira, and Trent arrived as well.

"Hey, Mr. O!" Conner yelled from the distance as they made their way towards the two old friends at the table.

Kira saw that her teacher was with a young woman, assuming that he was there on a more personal note; she grabbed Conner and Ethan by their shoulders and turned them towards their usual table. Trent, having witnessed this, realized what Kira was doing, and followed behind them.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Conner demanded.

"Besides the fact that I have to see you every day?" She said in a sarcastic tone, and then she added in a lower voice, "don't you see Dr. Oliver is with a woman? Give them some privacy, will you guys?"

Ethan turned and saw them. He then turned back to his friends and said, "that's not a woman, she's just the new teacher for Literature."

"Could you be _any_ more dumber?" Trent asked.

"You know what I mean", Ethan answered innocently.

"That's _some_ Literature teacher. Sign me up for the next class" Conner stated raising his eyebrows.

"I guess Dr. O jumped on _that_ boat as soon as possible" Trent said.

"Dude, wouldn't _you_?" Ethan asked Trent.

"Oh, yeah, man, she is just what the doctor ordered, and I have a prescription right here", Trent motioned to his shirt pocket.

"Man, that girl's a tall glass of water, and let me tell you, I'm _thirsty_" Conner added to the remarks.

Kira rolled her eyes and stopped them before they went any further like she knew they would. "Guys, put a lid on it, we get it, you like her. Point proven."

"Uh oh, do I detect a sense of jealousy coming from this direction?" Ethan asked, motioning to Kira.

The boys just laughed as Hayley came to get their order.

Tommy was now bursting out in laughter as Kat finished her story about what had happened the day before.

"…so it had turned out that I had set the alarm for 2:20 a.m! I got up just not knowing what to do!"

"Man, Kat, I wish I would've been there! To see the look on your face!" he said, still chuckling.

"Yeah, well, let's just say it was _not_ my cup of tea" she continued. "I mean, my day had been going fine till that instant."

"Well, it wasn't much of a day seeing as you spent it all day sleeping" he mocked.

"Hey, I resent that." Kat said jokingly.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, but I had to take a shot" Tommy said, while still having some laughter inside of him.

Hayley then got there with their orders and they both began to eat and chat in between bites.

* * *

Tommy and Kat arrived at Reefside High just in time for their next class. They both didn't have to worry about taking a quick lunch because they both had the period after lunch off.

During lunch, Kat had asked him if he could help her next week to look for an apartment. He happily agreed to do it. He then asked her if she needed a place to stay for the mean time, but she respectfully declined his offer. After a bit of a dispute in the sense that Tommy really wanted Kat to stop wasting her money on a hotel, Kat gave in, and accepted his invitation.

* * *

After school let out, Tommy drove Katherine to the hotel where she was to pick up her things and go over to his house.

Upon arriving there and going inside the room, Katherine felt a bit of apprehension.

"I don't know Tommy, I mean; we barely saw each other again after so many years." She said walking towards the bed looking down.

"Hey," he said, while placing a hand on her shoulder causing her to turn around. "Kat, what's wrong?"

"I dunno, I…I just feel as if I'm intruding or something", she said with embarrassment in her voice.

"Kat, you could _never_ impose; especially not when I practically begged you for you to stay in my house."

"Well,…you _did_ sort of beg me didn't you?" She said, with a small joking sigh.

Tommy laughed a little, while saying, "Yeah, now come on, let's go get your stuff."

* * *

They arrived at Tommy's house a bit after sunset. They both disembarked his jeep with Katherine's belongings.

As she made her way up the driveway, she couldn't help but compliment Tommy's home while looking at it from the top to the bottom, and from left to right.

"Wow, you have a beautiful home" she said.

"Thanks" he said, smiling at the comment.

Then she added jokingly, "well, the part that's showing anyways".

"_Here_ we go…" Tommy said rolling his eyes jokingly as they both made their way inside.

Kat's eyes widened at the beautiful home, "I could get used to _this_, who needs an apartment? Tommy, scratch off 'look for apartment' on your to do list, I'm staying here forever", she joked.

_I just wish you were serious, beautiful._ Tommy thought as he put Kat's things down on the side of the door before going over to close it.

"So, are you hungry?" He asked.

"Oh, no, I'm stuffed after that meal this afternoon" she said while rubbing her abdomen.

"Alright, anyways, let me show you to your room, _madam_" Tommy said with a French accent.

Katherine chuckled a bit at the mien he was making and the voice as they headed up the stairs to the guest room.

* * *

Tommy was in his office making next week's lesson plans when he didn't mean to eavesdrop on Kat's conversation she was having on her cell phone next door.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop…

"Anyways, what happened with my things? Did you get them out of the apartment?

"Okay, well, how much is left?

"Well, good, I can handle that…

"Why, what's _wrong_ with my underwear?

"Oh my God, I feel like I'm talking to a child…

"No one is telling you to fold 'em, besides, I just wanted you to take care of the furniture…

"How much is the storage gonna be?

"Aw, you're so sweet. How will I ever repay you?

"Oh, no, I don't have _that_ much time in the world…

"Well, _anyways_, getting back to what's really important, me…

"I am too important!

"Oh, and I suppose you think you're so much better?

"As I was _saying_ before I got so _rudely_ interrupted, I can get my clothes by myself on Saturday…

"Who's that?

"I mean that girl in the background…

"Oh, tell her I said hi…

"Well, tell 'er thank you and I can't wait to see her again.

"Why, where are you going again?

"Oh, well, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Are you gonna pick me up at the airport?

"What do you mean you don't know, I'm relying on you, you know…

"Okay, okay, I'll let you go, but just tell me so I can arrange something…

"Promise?

"Alright, bye."

As she ended her conversation, she couldn't help but be startled at the figure standing in front of her.

"Oh, my God, Tommy," she gasped as she jumped a little with fear.

"Well, I haven't heard _those _words in a while" he smiled.

"I didn't see you there" she was still shaken up a bit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he said.

"That's alright."

"Listen Kat, I couldn't help over hearing you conversation from my office and…"

"Mr. Thomas Oliver, were you eavesdropping?" She asked with a devious tone.

"No, more like taking notes on how Literature is spoken through the phone."

"Yeah, more like snooping," she mocked.

"Well, maybe just a little, but just the part that I heard about you having furniture in storage."

"Yeah, I don't know how I'm gonna get it over here."

"Well, you know, I have a pretty strong jeep. I'm sure it'll be no trouble having it pull a U-Haul," he said. Then added before he was cut off by her, "I was wondering if you wanted to…"

"Oh, no, Tommy, you are _not_ doing this. It's bad enough you letting me stay at your house. Now you want to help me move my furniture over here? No, thank you, then I'd _really_ feel like I'd owe you _big_."

"I happen to know a guy that owns a storage company and he could give you a good price too. Well, as long as you look for an apartment, it won't be as expensive as the other one."

"Well, I don't know, besides, Jess already said that," now she was cut off.

"Look, how 'bout you think about it, and we'll talk about it tomorrow."

"Alright, it's getting late anyways."

"Okay, I'll be right down the hall if you need anything", he said as he made his way out the room.

_Yeah, I need something ... you._ She thought.


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 4 / A Long, Long Ride**

The next morning turned out to be a beautiful day. The clouds were a bright white just covering the slightest bit of the sun; a perfect day to go to the park and walk, have a picnic, or just sit around. Everything was calm and peaceful.

Inside the Oliver house was a bit of a different story.

In the kitchen Tommy was making toast,…well, sort of…"Oh my God, I can't believe I burnt the toast!" Tommy yelled.

Meanwhile in the guest bedroom, Kat was having a bit of a problem herself. "Damn, I can't find my purse! What happened to it? I think I'm having a slight case of Tommy-itis. Oh, here you are," Katherine said while picking up her planner, "I've been looking all over for you, now, to find my purse!"

"How in the hell could I burn toast? How could anyone in their right mind burn toast for heaven sake." Tommy yelled at himself while throwing the burnt toast away and going to the counter and getting two fresh slices. "You just pop it in the toaster, pull the lever down, and wait. It even has a timer by itself. It's not like one has to wait right by it and just tap their fingers on the counter while waiting to pop the lever up themselves."

Katherine came downstairs fiddling with her get up. She had her hair down curled up in the back, a navy blue button up blouse, black dress pants, and black high-heel boots. She had her planner under her arm and her purse in her hands. She came down quickly thinking that Tommy was already waiting for her, but to her surprise found him in the kitchen eating toast with butter and jelly with some coffee on the side.

"Hey, how's it going in here?" she asked.

"It's okay, have some toast, I would've made something else, but, we're already late."

"Oh, no thank you, I'm not very hungry."

"_And_? I didn't ask if you wanted to eat the most important meal of the day, I said have some breakfast. Now sit." He said pointing to the seat in front of him.

"Didn't you just say that we're late already?" She asked while sitting down.

"Yeah, but don't worry, as long as Randall doesn't see us, it's alright. Let's just hope she's not right in front of the door as we walk in."

* * *

To Tommy's surprise, Randall was nowhere insight. They both headed to their classes three minutes after the tardy bell had rung.

"Hello class, I hope you're all here." Kat said, as she walked/jogged inside the classroom.

She then took row, and started her lesson.

Tommy got to his class a little after Kat got to hers. "So, looks like we're missing two students today." Tommy said after taking row. He then too began his lesson.

* * *

As the bell for lunchtime rang, Tommy wanted to literally be the first one out the door. After everyone left, his four usual alumni approached him.

"Hey, haven't heard much out of you Dr. O." Ethan told him in a sly voice.

"Well, you do know rumor has it he arrived here with Ms. Hillard." Conner directed his statement towards Ethan.

"Oh, not only _that_ Conner, but _late_." Ethan said.

"Uh, oh, did someone have a late night last night?" Trent asked, bringing himself into the conversation.

"I think a certain someone didn't get enough sleep yesterday." Kira said, which came as a surprise to Tommy.

"I think a certain someone didn't get _any_ sleep yesterday." Conner said in a malevolent tone.

"Okay, that's enough alright guys." Tommy said with a bit of annoyance in his voice. "Yes, I _did_ come in with Kat, but, she's an old friend of mine from High School. We are not dating," he said and looked at Conner. "We are not seeing each other," he said as he looked at Ethan. "We are not thinking about it," he said while looking in Trent's direction, "and you guys are not going to butt in anymore," as he was going to look at Kira, she stopped him, by saying,

"Hey, don't look at me, I have nothing to do with this. I'm just here to see who's gonna give me a ride to Hayley's."

"I will, so, are you coming Dr. O?" Conner said.

"Na', you guys go ahead. I'll catch you later." Tommy assured.

"Alright, come on guys, before we have to eat in a hurry." Trent said.

Ethan then said to himself out loud, "thank God for open-campuses."

The others nodded their heads as they headed out the door.

* * *

Tommy quickly put his things away, and headed to Kat's classroom.

"Hey," he said, upon arriving there.

"Hey yourself." She said with a warm smile.

"So, have you been thinking about the U-Haul?"

"Well, yeah, but, I dunno, I just have to hear it from you one more time."

"Ok,… Kat, would you please give me the honor of driving you to Angel Grove and helping you with your things?" He asked in a non-question tired voice.

"Ok, I'd love to have you help me. I _do_ need strong masculine arms to help me with this." She said.

"Alright."

"So, can you call Jason?" She joked, before getting a dirty look from Tommy.

* * *

That night, Tommy was exceptionally happy; being with Katherine on a road trip for eight hours. _I have a feeling that it's gonna be great, _he thought. _Maybe I could confess all that I'm feeling for her._ _Then again, she could just turn me down flat. I don't even know if she has a boyfriend._ At that last thought, Katherine walked in gently into his room where he was laying on the bed.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey," he countered.

She stood in the doorway not knowing if she should step inside or not.

"What's up, Kat…everything alright?" Tommy asked in a very sincere worried voice.

"Umm, yeah…well, no…well… I just can't seem to get to sleep, that's all."

"Oh, you wanna talk about it?"

She hesitated for a while, then looked into his eyes, as she was somehow now at the feet of his bed.

"Well, I just keep having a nightmare… I guess it's just a bit childish, huh?" She asked with embarrassment in her voice.

"Of course not Kat. Everyone has nightmares, and some are bigger and more realistic than others," he said as he walked over to her and caressed her face.

She couldn't help but look down at the embarrassment. _Why am I feeling embarrassed? It's a horrible dream, _she thought.

At that instant, she felt the love of her life staring at her. She looked up from the floor, and caught him looking at her with intensity. She didn't know what to do at this point, her head was throbbing for some reason, and her hands started to shake uncontrollably. His lips came just half of an inch away from hers. She started to lean in, but stopped. Katherine looked down and cleared her throat.

"Tommy… I don't think we should be doing this" she said with grief in her voice. "I mean, I just got here, and I'm living in your house, I don't have an apartment of my own…"she continued until Tommy stopped her by putting his thumb over her lips while holding the left side of her face.

"Shhh, Katherine, all I want is to be with you", he said with a slight whisper.

"Tommy, I'm sorry, but I…"

"Okay look, how 'bout this, we go to sleep, and we'll just forget about this." he said, trying to end his embarrassment.

She again looked down and just nodded her head.

"We'll leave at six in the morning okay?" He asked as if he was asking a child.

Kat yet again looked down and asked, "you still want to take me, after…"

"Kat, you're my friend. I'll do anything for you," he said while looking in her eyes profoundly.

Kat just couldn't help feel mortified for what had just happened. She then decided it was better if she just left his room. She spoke while leaving; "I'm sorry I came here Tommy, I just…"

"Kat, don't worry about it. These things happen. I mean, just try to get some sleep. Be careful with that _huge rat _in your room," he said trying to make her laugh.

She smiled, then added, "Oh, you mean the one that somewhat resembles your 11th grade picture?"

He couldn't help but laugh, "hey, everyone blinks sometimes when taking a picture" he retorted as she stepped out of his room.

"Yeah, but not as funny as you" she then turned around towards him and mocked his high school picture with a facial expression of closing her eyes and slightly opening her mouth in a dumfounded way leaving her tongue kind of sticking out of it.

He just laughed as she smiled and left to the guest room.

Tommy could sense the pain of rejection coming upon him. He threw himself backwards on his bed landing on his back flustered with his thoughts.

* * *

That morning, Katherine got up extra early to make sure she had everything she needed for the long trip. _Should I pack __pajamas? Then again, it's only an eight hour drive. I have pajamas at the apartment. Oh, but what if he decides to stop somewhere? Na', it's gonna be a one day thing. _She was still thinking deeply into her thoughts as she got into the shower. _I wonder if he'll bring up last night. I guess I should just try to avoid the question completely. It's going to be a 'long' ride._

Tommy woke up around the time when Katherine was in the shower. He gathered his belongings and headed for the master shower in his bedroom. He too was deep in his thoughts, _man, what happened last night? I must have acted like such an idiot to her! I should've known she would have never wanted to get back with me. She's a grown woman, and things just change. Too bad my heart hasn't…_

* * *

Tommy quickly went out to his jeep and checked under the hood as he had done the day before. He saw that everything was ready to go then went over to the back and checked the extra tire bar to see if it was tight enough not to get loosened up.

"You must have done that about three-hundred times by now," Kat said, as she was coming out of the house with a small cooler holding sodas and bottles of water. On top of the small cooler was a plastic grocery bag with sandwiches, fruit, and some napkins. She headed over to the back of the cabin of the jeep and placed the cooler in the middle of the long seat before going over to the front and placing the bag in the center of the two front seats. She then thought; they had just had breakfast and would not want to eat until sometime in a couple of hours in the trip, so she reopened the back door and placed the bag next to the cooler.

Tommy, witnessing Katherine go from the back of the cabin to the front, then back again; he laughed internally.

Katherine heard his small laugh and asked, "And what might be so funny?" She said, while placing both hands on the sides of her tightly arched hips.

"Nothing," Tommy answered still chuckling, "it's just that I've never seen you nervous before, that's all."

"Oh, nervous, Mr. 'I have to check everything a million times before we go'," she mocked.

"What? I'm not nervous, I'm just cautious."

"Mmm, hmm, cautious, more like edgy, anxious, worried, and over-sensitive to me." She said in a fast joking manner.

"And you forgot generous, handsome, gorgeous, and fine-looking if you ask me."

Kat just laughed at his comment while closing the back door to the jeep.

She then went back inside and retrieved her purse and wallet.

Tommy met her at the door while she was walking out and made a gentleman-exaggeration in bowing and stretching his hand out silently to motion her out.

She exaggerated as well in doing a curtsy, and tilting her head a bit with a smile.

They both laughed and headed to their last minute rumblings.

* * *

While pulling out of the driveway, Katherine reminded Tommy somewhat of his lack of good memory. "Now, are you sure you checked everything, nothing's on, everything's locked, everyone knows that you won't be home?" She asked in a joking, conversation-starting, serious-being, voice.

"Yes…_mom_," Tommy nodded his head for the forth time as she spoke.

"Did you remember to pee?"

"Oh crap!" Tommy slowed the truck down a bit making them both start laughing hysterically at what they were playing.

* * *

**Four Hours inside the Drive**

Tommy stopped at a gas station to pump gas. Katherine really needed to go to the restroom, but knew what was coming if she did. She decided to put her pride aside, and got out of the jeep.

"Where you going?" Tommy asked.

"Umm, to get something", she answered.

"Going to the restroom aren't you?" He stated with a sly smile on his face.

"Hey, it's all the water I drank."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, save it for the judge." He said before adding, "Did _you _remember to pee before we left?" He asked in a joking smug way.

"As a matter of fact, yes, but I'm not going to wait the other four hours for another rest stop."

"True," Tommy said, and decided to go to the restroom himself.

Tommy came out a little before Kat did. He went up the counter and paid for the gas. He then went outside to pump it. As he was putting the gun back, he wondered why Kat wasn't out yet and smiled internally thinking she was doing a little more that peeing in there. He got back in his truck and drove it to the front of the convenient store. About two minutes after parking, Kat came out.

"Took you long enough," he said jokingly as she was making her way onto the passenger seat. "Did the queen have to sit on her throne for a while?" He asked with a gagging smile on his face.

"Urgh, don't remind me. I go in, sit down, do my business, finish, and then, and only then do I realize there is no toilet paper" she began.

Tommy by this time was feeling a smile cross his face while she continued.

Katherine, while speaking and expressing her opinion was using her arms and hands expressively for motioning her frustration.

"How can a convenient store run out of toilet paper, don't they sell it here? Besides, how can they actually have toilet seat covers and no toilet _paper_?"

Tommy was starting to laugh at this point while Katherine went on with her story.

"It's either you have both, or none. I _was _going to clean myself with another toilet seat cover but just thought of the pain that comes with it. Just to think that thin, raspy, rough material against my Kiwi just was not going to do it."

Tommy at this point was chuckling silently just hearing Katherine keep on with her problem.

"So I just decided to wait for someone to come in and ask them for some from another stall."

"So, did someone come in?" Tommy asked quickly before starting to laugh again.

"Let's just say, I'm in a lot of scratchy, itchy pain right now." She said embarrassingly in between small chuckles.

Tommy burst out laughing holding the steering wheel with one hand and clutching his stomach with the other while putting his head back to keep laughing hysterically.

Katherine was about to snap at him but couldn't help but laugh at herself as well. She, like Tommy was now laughing uncontrollably at the incident that had just happened.

* * *

They were back on the road when Tommy got a bit hungry. He was a tad embarrassed for some reason to ask Kat for a sandwich so he just kept quiet for the ride to come.

Katherine could feel her butt getting numb and became very uncomfortable. She wanted to tell Tommy to get off at the next exit but decided to wait until they got to Angel Grove to stretch her legs. She didn't know why she didn't want to ask Tommy to stop. She too for some reason decided to stay quiet and keep her thoughts to herself.

* * *

Angel Grove was about an hour away now. Katherine could feel the relief inside herself now in just thinking that soon she'll be getting off that truck to walk around.

Tommy on the other hand was just about to explode; he was so hungry, was mentally slapping himself for not telling Katherine anything. When he was about to ask Kat for a sandwich, his stomach growled. Tommy's face got red and he didn't even look in Kat's direction next to him.

"Hungry?" She asked while chuckling silently.

She reached back and got the bag of sandwiches. She retrieved one for him and unwrapped it out of the foil. He then eagerly took it.

"Thanks", he said in a low voice. "I _am_ a little hungry."

"Tommy, a little hungry was two hours ago. Now you're just famished. I thought for a second your stomach was eating itself." She said with laughter in her voice.

"Yeah, well, it feels like that." He said still embarrassed.

"Why didn't you just tell me to get you a sandwich?" She asked innocently.

"I don't know. I just guess I could've waited until we got to Angel Grove. Stupid huh?"

"No, because then that'll make me stupid, and I will certainly not have that." She said joking in a conceited way.

"Why do you say _that_?" He asked before taking a bite of the sandwich.

"Because…well…the truth is, my butt has been numb since Parkview," she said with distress. "I've wanted to ask you if you could stop so I can stretch my legs but I just don't want to make it back to Reefside _too _late." She lied.

"Well, if you wanna stop, I'll stop. I feel like stretching my legs too." He assured.

"You sure?" She asked uncomfortably.

"Yeah."

He then went a couple of more miles until he got off on an exit. They were both relieved to see a rest area up ahead with not a lot of cars parked there.

When they parked, Tommy quickly got off and grabbed a soda from the back seat of the jeep.

As Tommy was getting the soda, Katherine got off and the first thing she did was stretch her body up as high as she could making her belly exposed to Tommy. She cocked her head from one shoulder to the other with eyes closed.

Tommy couldn't help but stare at what a great body Kat had. Her stomach was nice and flat. He appreciated her jeans, which exposed the top of her curves around her hips. Her breast curvatures were also showing under her white tank top. They were a bit larger than average which he did not mind at all. Her face was like a lovely seraph with blue eyes and a body to match.

He then realized he was staring at her too long and decided it was the best time to go back to his soda before she figured what he was doing.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Tommy opening his soda and was a little disillusioned when she thought he hadn't been looking at her. She then walked away from the jeep to take a walk around the rest area.

"Aren't you gonna eat, Kat?" Tommy stopped her before she left.

"Oh, yeah, in a little bit. I'm just gonna take a walk for a while." She answered.

"Oh, okay." He said while she turned and left.

As she was walking away from him, he felt as if Katherine wasn't herself anymore. She wasn't eating properly, she wasn't looking into his eyes like she used to, and she was just not acting like herself.

As he too walked away from the jeep, he kept thinking.

He went ahead and thought a bit more for a second about what he was feeling. He then, only then, did his realize that she had changed because she's human.

As much as it hurt him to think this but it was true.

All he wanted more in his heart is for her to have the same feelings he held towards her. He then accepted it into himself; she did not love him, and belonged to herself. He is just going to have to get out of her way, as much as he could.

That didn't stop him from going over to her, though.

"Hey, mind if I walk with you?" He asked without the charm.

"No, I don't mind. I'd actually prefer it." She said, before giving him a warm smile. "You know, I really like having you as a friend Tommy."

"And I really like _being_ your friend Kat. You know, you've always been there for me when I felt down; and you always managed to pick me back up." He said with sincerity in his voice. He then added, "Thanks, I really appreciate it."

She couldn't help but blush at what he was saying. She never realized that she had been there for Tommy in so many occasions. Yet, it didn't stop her from reminiscing all the times he was there for _her_.

"Tommy, you speak as if I was the only one there for _you_. Yet, all this time, I've forgot to say how grateful I am to have you here with me. You were there for me as well, remember? So many times, you were my Knight. You saved me from the worst situations possible."

"Kat, you're talking battles, I'm talking personal, emotional distress. I was _never_ there for you. You were the one that somehow, let me realize that I can open up." He said, while looking at her now.

"Tommy, I never told you this, but, you were not the only one in our group to get hurt from a person you cared for like that. I too had my ways of feeling about love; but you came into my life, and showed me that it was alright to love again. Not just because you're a leader of something Tommy, do you have to feel that you should always keep your guard up in any way."

"Yeah, I was sort of like that, wasn't I?" he asked sheepishly.

"Sort of? My, my, my, do you have a way with words. You practically put up a huge brick wall every time anyone would get near you to talk for any reason. You somehow managed to push a lot of people away from you that just really wanted to help you get through your stress."

"You're the only one for some reason I let my guard down with, Kat. And truth be told, I don't even know why. I guess it's because you never seem to judge people and you really just try to look for the positive even in the worst situations."

"Yup, that's me, Mrs. Bright Side." She quoted one of her favorite songs. _Except for 'my' situations, _she thought.

"What was _your_ reason for not opening up to us, though?"

"Same reason I think you didn't open up to any of us either. Fear of getting looked at like an overprotected child I guess."

Tommy was trying his best to try to figure out what was in Kat's mind and why she was acting so distant. He decided to drop the conversation instead and holding up another one like a white flag of surrender showing his comprehension in the situation she was in. She still didn't want to open up, and he understood.

"So…what are we getting from your apartment?" He stated.

"Well, just a couple of my clothes." She said with easiness, "and some furniture from the storage."

"Your friend got the storage after all?"

"Hey, I can't speak for Jess. It was his idea actually. But, I'll pay him back."

"And in how much time do you think we'll do that? I mean, so you know, we can start planning the trip back."

"Oh, well, that depends on how much fits in the U-Haul. I really just want to get the essentials, like the couches, bed, dresser, you know?"

"Yeah, like the every day things?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so, does Jess have strong arms."

"Na', he's just there for show and tell, watch." She said with a chuckle. Tommy chuckled as well, and they both went back to the jeep to continue their destination towards Angel Grove.


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 5 / Visiting Friends**

**Angel Grove, California**

They arrived in Angel Grove at about a quarter to four. They were both very tired, but decided to visit some old friends of theirs before they went to Kat's apartment.

The first person they visited was Tommy's best friend, Jason Lee Scott.

_Ding, Dong_, Tommy rang the doorbell.

After a few seconds of waiting, a beautiful young woman answered the door. She was about 5'6" with brown eyes and mid-back long brown hair. She was slender, keeping in mind she had three children, so her skin was not as tight and toned as it used to be. As soon as she opened the door, her eyes widened and she gasped at the sight she had in front of her.

"Tommy? Kat? Oh, my God," she then turned her head around and upwards as she yelled the next words, "Jason, get down here quick!"

"Oh, umm, come in, come in." She said, motioning for her two friends to come in the house.

Tommy could do nothing but smile at his old friend.

As they both made their way inside the house, Katherine gave her friend a warm hug. After Kat, Tommy then proceeded to give her a hug as well. "Hey, how you been, Emily?" He asked before adding, "haven't seen you in years."

"Oh, you know, I've been good. How 'bout you? I see you cut your hair. Jason told me you did, but I didn't expect for it to be _this _short." She said while somewhat pinching a small bit of his hair.

He looked a little uncomfortable with the comment, but smiled shyly as she smiled while she spoke.

"Hey, how's everything going with the dojo?" Katherine asked trying to fill in the gap of silence between the two.

"Oh, fine, thanks." Emily replied with a bit of exhaustion in her voice. "So, what brings this special surprise?" She asked, wanting to know why Kat and _Tommy_ where there; _together_.

As Tommy was going to speak, Jason instantly saw who was downstairs and yelled. "What? Is that who I think it is?"

Tommy and Katherine both looked up the stairs and saw their even older friend standing at the top.

Jason quickly made his way towards his friends.

Tommy couldn't wait and met him half ways. He extended one arm as Jason grabbed his hand and pulled his long time friend in. They met each other with a swift hug and released each other as they were both smiling uncontrollably.

He then made his way to Katherine as she too was smiling at him. "Hey, Kat, how's everything going with the new job?" He said as he went over to her to give her a huge bear hug.

"Fine thanks." She replied in a chocked voice due to Jason hugging her so tightly.

Tommy looked down a bit and smiled at the sight of Jason purposely hugging Katherine forcefully.

"Okay, you're gonna suffocate her man. Can't you see she's fragile?" Tommy said jokingly.

The four of them laughed at Tommy's comment.

"How you been, man?" Jason asked as he turned to his friend to start conversation with him.

The girls just looked at one another and gave each other a look of 'boy talk is starting' so they mentally read one another and headed towards the kitchen.

While making their way into the kitchen, Kat took a glance back towards the direction of the guys and saw Tommy looking at her while Jason spoke. She then smiled and Tommy couldn't help but smile back.

* * *

"Okay, so tell me, what's going on with you and Tommy, girl?" Emily asked while pouring two cups of iced tea.

"Well…" Katherine began "…it's not what you think."

"Oh, I pretty much know that. Jess was ranting in here the other day about how much he hated the idea of you living with Tommy."

"He could act like such a jerk sometimes." Kat said, with discontent in her voice.

"You know, he doesn't know Tommy, he's just looking out for you."

"Yeah, I know. But, sometimes I think he just takes things a little too far."

"How so?" Emily asked while handing Kat the glass and both heading to the table.

"Well, like the other day I told him over the phone that Tommy knew a guy that could sell me the storage for a good price because I was _sure_ that I wasn't gonna get all the stuff out that fast. Since he had already told me that he would pay for the storage and later I told him what happened; he completely got irritated by the fact that Tommy was helping me out and not him."

"Why does he act like a damn boyfriend sometimes? And yet at others, he acts like a damn fool?"

"I don't know, but there's something good about me leaving, though. I can get away from all of my problems her in Angel Grove."

"What sort of problems? You mean that girl that got shot?"

"Yeah, _that_ and other stuff." Katherine took a deep breath and sighed. She then looked at Emily who was completely drawn into the conversation.

"What other stuff?" She asked Katherine.

"Hmm?" Kat was now looking outside the window and daydreaming for a bit. "Oh, just stuff. So, what ever happened to Terry?" She asked changing the conversation subject into a different direction.

"Oh, she's at home. I heard she's not going back to school until next year. She's pretty bad, she just got released from the hospital. It must suck to be paralyzed like that from one day to the next."

Kat looked deep into the glass of iced tea she was holding in between her hands. She rubbed her left thumb against it stroking the cold liquid away from itself.

Emily gently touched Katherine's arm, "Kat, this isn't you fault. Just because you didn't say anything about their small fight doesn't mean…"

Jason then cut her off as they both looked up as he spoke, "Hey, we're going to McDonalds, you guys want anything?"

"Yeah, get me a number one with sweet 'n' sour sauce." Emily said.

Jason then looked at Kat and asked her if she wanted anything.

"No thanks", she shook her head gently.

"Come on Kat, you can't sit here and watch us eat," Jason said.

"Well, alright." Kat said, still not fully convinced that she wanted anything. "I'll have the grilled chicken salad please."

"Okay…" Jason said while making a somewhat revolting look at her order "…what kind of dressing would you like with that?"

"Oh, no dressing," she said, still in a gaze. She then turned back out towards the window.

Jason gave Emily a look of comprehension towards what Kat was going through and nodded his head. He then gave Emily a peck on the lips before heading out the door.

* * *

"So, how's the school thing coming along?" Jason asked Tommy while driving to McDonalds.

"It's alright. You know, I really think that the whole world is crashing down on me, man." He answered trying not to sound too wimpy.

"Why do you say that bro?" Jason asked concerned.

"Well, we just had a huge battle, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Mesagog. Everything was as usual as always, no change, no nothing. Then, all of a sudden, Katherine shows up out of nowhere." He said, still with disbelief. "And you wanna know what's even more unbelievable, that my best friend didn't even think twice about telling me that Kat was back in Angel Grove. Shocking isn't it?"

"Hey, relax. I just didn't know if it was the right thing to do and all, besides, with Jessie in the picture, I don't really think you would want to know."

"Yeah, but Jessie is just a friend right?" He asked impatiently.

"Uh, no. I would hardly call someone you practically have over every night a friend."

"What? You mean to tell me, she has a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, man. What you expect?"

"Don't tell me that. Aww, Jase, I made such a fool of myself." He said leaning his head back remembering the night in his room. "Why hasn't she even gone to say hi or something to him?" He said, changing the subject quickly before Jason could counter with a question as towards why he was feeling like a fool.

"Man, between you and me…and well Emily…she's not too happy in the relationship. He's really possessing and just is a jerk to her."

"Really? In what way?" Tommy asked concerned.

"Well, you didn't hear this from me, but when we all went to the movies, you know Emily and me with Kat and Jessie, well, shit got crazy. Jessie saw this guy looking in Kat's direction. All of a sudden, Jessie gave him this ugly look right? Then he saw that the guy checked Kat out from the back, then all hell broke loose."

Tommy was just stunned and somewhat knew what the story was going to be about, stupid jealousy.

"We were like two feet away from the door, and bam! Jessie goes into this stupid wild rampage." Jason said, taking a pause.

"Then, all of a sudden I see Jessie beating up the guy without even telling him what the hell he's getting his ass beat for. Now don't get me wrong, I don't like guys checking out Emily as well, but that's just going too far."

Tommy nodded his head in agreement as Jason continued.

"Katherine then went towards him and tried to pull him off but that dude just wouldn't get off of that guy. Man, let me tell you, it was _ugly_."

"What did you do about it?" Tommy asked, somewhat quizzing him in his martial arts morals.

"Well, I got the dude off." He answered chantingly.

Tommy again nodded his head in agreement.

"He's a really jealous guy, Tommy. If he catches you looking at her for more than one damn second, he pounces on you like a damn tiger."

"And, I'm supposed to just accept that, besides, Kat said he's just a show and tell guy, that he's not strong."

"He might not look strong, but trust me man, that cat has gotten into so many fights because of her. It's crazy, honest to God, Tommy, I think he's just two words away from beating Kat's ass."

"Okay, now why do you say _that_?" He asked bothered by the comment.

"Well, that same day on the ride home we were both in the back seat of Kat's mustang while Jessie was driving. Kat was so upset for the show he had put, that she started arguing with him in the car. Man, you should have seen the way he screamed at her."

Tommy at this point was just ranting with rage inside of him. The thought of _anyone_ yelling to Katherine was not going to go through him well, especially over something stupid like jealousy.

Jason continued with the story not noticing Tommy's face getting angrier and angrier with every passing word.

"He lifted up his hand at her like three damn times, man. I swear to you, I was thinking 'if this asshole does anything to her I'm gonna beat his ass', but he never hit her…in the car I mean."

"Why, did he do something to her afterwards?" Tommy was completely fuming with rage at this point and couldn't help raise his voice at his friend.

"Damn Tommy, calm down. I don't know if he did anything to her or not. I'm just saying he didn't do anything to her that I saw, that's all." Jason said, trying to calm down Tommy's rage.

"Oh, man Jason, if I know that he hurt her, I swear I won't even think twice about it bro." Tommy said still frustrated with Jessie's acts. "I haven't even seen this guy and I already want to kick his ass." He added with a few chuckles.

Jason chuckled at the comment as well. He then got serious for a moment while telling Tommy, "Let me tell you Tommy, that dude has serious problems."

"Why would Kat be with someone like him? She could do so much better that _that_, man." He said, in his mind suggesting himself.

"Well, Emily tried talking to her over the phone the next day about the incident and told Kat that she should stay away from him."

"Then what happened?"

"Well, they ended up getting in a fight themselves."

"Why's that?" Tommy asked.

"Well, Kat defended him saying that he told her 'he just cares for her and that's why he's so protective of her'. Emily tried to tell her otherwise, but, just ended up getting snapped at by Kat."

"Kat? Really? It just doesn't seem like her." Tommy said in disbelief.

"Well, we've just let her go with it. It's not our life, nor our relationship. We figured, if she wants help, she'll ask for it, but in the mean time, we'll just sit and wait for that."

Tommy nodded again to Jason's comment knowing that it _was _Kat's life and deciding himself right then and there to stay out of it as well.

"Besides, I'm sure she'll come to her senses."

"How are you so sure about that?" Tommy then asked him.

"Well… a certain someone came back into her life, you never know… _something_ might happen." He said with a devilish look and smile towards Tommy's direction.

"Well, I just hope she can get out of _that_ soon." Tommy said ignoring Jason's comment due to his concern towards Kat's situation.

* * *

Katherine and Emily were now in the living room chatting about Emily's parenting life.

"So, you said no to the epidural?" Katherine asked, making a mien of pain.

"Well, I wanted to have a normal child birth, Kat, I just wanted to feel what my ancestors felt, you know?" Emily answered with easiness in her voice after mentally picturing Fredrick, her first born.

"Well, did you do it for Kevin?" Katherine asked meaning Emily's second child.

Emily then raised her eyebrows, leaned back a little, lifted her blouse up, pointed at a long horizontal scar in the bottom of her belly, and showed Kat her C-Section scar she had gotten from her second child.

Kat let out a hiss of mentally noting to herself never to have a C-Section.

"It wasn't that bad," Emily then said, noticing Kat's reaction when seeing her scar. "It's looks worst than it is. I was asleep for the whole thing. It was beautiful, I went to sleep with a huge belly and I woke up with a baby to hold."

Katherine couldn't help but smile at the thought of Emily being in the hospital bed just sleeping comfortably and waking up to see another beautiful child created by so much love that her dear friends hold for one another.

"Oh, but Anne was a little different." Emily said, after seeing Kat's expression to the good news after a Cesarean Section. "When I had her, they had to perform _another_ C-Section on my ass. I tell you, it was gruelling."

"Wasn't it just as last time?" Kat asked, curious about Emily's tone.

"Well, let me just tell you, the rules did not apply as last time. The nurse that was taking care of the IVs… oh my God…he told me the most horrible thing of all…next to having natural child birth of course."

Kat couldn't stand the anticipation. "What happened?" She had to ask, trying to speed up the story. "What did he tell you?"

"Well, I asked him that why is he not putting anesthesia on me to fall asleep."

"Didn't you read the paper work?" Kat then asked, breaking the story for a few moments.

"Well, yeah, only where I had to sign…and the bold parts…but I never saw anything about no beautiful anesthesia on them." Emily said.

"Oh, sorry, then what happened?" Kat then asked continuing the story after apologizing for her rudeness.

"Well, he then said, 'don't think you're gonna go to sleep this time and wake up with another tax deduction'…

Katherine started laughing at the statement that Emily had just said while she continued with her tale.

"… and I was like 'joke's on you cuz I already have my other two kids on my income tax, this one can't go in there', so then…

"You said that?" Emily was going to continue before getting cut off by Kat.

"No," she confessed. "But I was sure thinkin' it though."

Kat was again breaking with laughter and Emily couldn't stand it any longer and had to break out in laughter as well.

As the two were laughing, Tommy and Jason walked in the house making their way to the kitchen with a conversation of their own not even noticing the two sitting on the couch.

"Yeah right bro, you keep on thinking that the liquid is better than the solid," Tommy said, before adding, "just try it with the solid man, you'll see a huge difference."

"Nope, don't need to, I will stick to the liquid due to knowing it better." Jason said, with confidence in his voice. "What do you think would've happened if I had accepted that date with Kim, huh? I probably would've never been with Emily right now." Jason then noticed the girls were not in the kitchen and realized where they both were by the reflection of the glass doors a couple of feet in front of them. He then quickly added, "And wouldn't be the happiest man in the world."

Emily noticed his quick comment and gave him an evil look behind him which the others new he felt. "Kind of slick aren't we?" She asked.

"Oh, Emily, is that you? I didn't know you were here." Jason said, while turning around and looking at Emily. "We got the food babe," Jason added, before his wife got too upset because of his comment.

The four friends were eating. Katherine was eating her salad, Tommy was eating a quarter pounder with cheese, Emily was eating a Big Mac, and Jason was eating chicken nuggets. While in between bites, they were carrying on a conversation.

"You know, going back to what you were saying about the nurse, Emily," Katherine stated before asking," why _didn't_ you tell him what you were thinking?"

"Oh, well, I don't know" Emily said, while the guys at this point in the conversation were up towards what the girls were talking about, "I guess I just didn't want to get a laugh out of him at that point, besides, he had my baby in his hands."

The group laughed at Emily's comment but still was not convinced.

"So, why is it you don't say the things you're thinking that will fit in just right with the conversation for any reason?" Tommy said, while having the group nod.

Jason then added, "how 'bout the ones that come way after an insult or something, and it's already too late to say 'em?

Again the group nodded their heads before Kat spoke, "yeah, and the worst part of it is that they're the things that are really good to get back at the insult with or in an argument."

All of them yet again nodded their heads and continued talking about the subject at hand.

* * *

It was getting pretty late before Tommy realized what they were in town for. He then let Jason and Emily know that they were both in a hurry and had to leave.

"That's too bad man, but, I hope to see you again soon." Jason stated.

"Yeah, me too." Emily said while giving Tommy a hug.

"I'll try to come more often," Tommy said while hugging Emily.

When they broke apart, Tommy then looked at Jason and said, "don't think just cuz you have three kids, you can't go to Reefside and visit me." He said while pointing his index finger at him.

"Yeah, I know," Jason told him, "sorry the kids were at their grandma's, but I'll be sure to take them to Reefside some time bro."

Jason then turned towards Kat's direction and said, "So, are you gonna call my wife and tell her all the gossip so she can report it to me?" Jason told Kat as he was going towards her to give her a hug.

"You can be sure about that," Katherine told him. She then hugged him and went towards Emily to give her a hug.

"It's gonna be tough without you here girl." Emily told her friend.

"Well, I think it's better this way, it's twice the gossip now; you tell me the gossip from Angel Grove, and I'll tell you the gossip from Reefside." Kat told her, trying to hold back Emily's tears.

Emily chuckled at the comment Katherine made while giving her a hug and saying, "you can be sure about that one."

Katherine saw Tommy opening the door and she followed him. They went outside followed by Emily and Jason.

They then stood in the doorway as Kat and Tommy made their way inside the jeep. He turned on the ignition and they waved as they were pulling out of the driveway.

* * *

They had to leave because they were going to another house before heading to Kat's apartment.

Their next stop was the DeSantos place. Rocky was living by himself after he divorced his wife of three years. She kept the children, but Rocky still got to see them every weekend due to his child support money he sent her every month.

Tommy parked his truck parallel to the street due to their fast visit they were making. He made his way up the driveway and onto Rocky's porch. He knocked while Kat then made it up after him due to having to put on lip gloss because her lips where getting a little chapped.

After several knocks, a young four year old came to the door and they could hear the little voice speak, "quién es?" (who is it?)

"It's Tommy and Kat sweetie." Katherine recognized the voice of Rocky's son Manuel, which went by the nickname Manny.

"Oh, okay," the little boy said while recognizing Kat's voice and opening the door.

"Hey!" Kat said, while getting Manny and picking him up to give him a kiss.

"Hi Kat!" the child said with a bright smile on his face.

Katherine then turned to Tommy with Manny still in her arms and said, "This is Manny, Rocky's son." She then turned to look at Manny and said, "Manny, this is Tommy, an old friend of your dad's."

"Hey! Who you callin' old?" Tommy said trying to make the others laugh.

Manny and Kat both laughed at his comment and Manny instantly liked Tommy and said, "You're funny!"

Katherine then asked, "so, where's you dad?"

As on cue, Rocky showed up at the door holding his one year old daughter, DyAna (Dee-Anna), in his arms.

"Hey!" Katherine said.

Rocky's face lit up seeing his friend at the door, but his face lit up even more to see who was standing next to her.

"Hey guys!" Rocky said with enthusiasm before inviting them in.

Inside, they gave each other hugs and hellos. Katherine got DyAna in her arms and kissed her while the little girl was just full of joy to see her again.

As Manuel was playing with his little sister peek-a-boo, Rocky, Tommy, and Katherine were in the living room talking about Rocky's divorce.

"Yeah, you know, it was hard, but, well, what can I do?" Rocky stated. "I have to go out there and get my life back you know," he motioned at Kat and Tommy.

The two just nodded their heads not wanting to say anything wrong with such a sensitive subject.

"But I _did _go out on a date," Rocky continued. "It was alright, but, I couldn't get Jasmin out of my head through the whole date."

Tommy wanted to bring up his hard break-up with Kimberly, but then realized this was no where near the same thing Rocky was going through. "Well, I guess you just have to give it time." He said instead.

Katherine was just lost in her own thoughts staring blankly into space. Rocky noticed her blank stare and teased his friend, trying to raise a laugh out of it while he was feeling so empty inside.

"Penny for your thoughts", he said.

"Huh?" Kat said, looking at Rocky dumbfounded.

Tommy and Rocky burst out laughing at the expense of Katherine, which she didn't mind at all. She herself was somewhat internally laughing at herself as well.

The conversation about Rocky's divorce and date went on for a while longer before he asked if they wanted something to eat.

"Oh, no thanks Roko," Tommy answered for the both of them. "We just ate a while ago, besides, we really have to be going. We have to pick up all the stuff from Kat's apartment."

Katherine looked outside and saw that it was a bit dark and in no time it was going to get even darker so she said, "yeah, besides, I think this is the perfect light to take out all my furniture and not have the landlord see us."

Tommy nodded in agreement, while Rocky nodded in understanding.

In a short time, Tommy and Kat were heading out the door saying their goodbyes to Rocky and his children.

They got back in the jeep and headed towards the storage area.


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 6 / Tale of a Battered Woman**

They arrived at the storage area that Jessie had told Kat about and they were helped by the workers putting most of her furniture in the U-Haul Tommy had brought from Reefside, the rest was placed in the truck's cargo area, and to their surprise, they got everything that was in the storage. It didn't take long to put the furniture inside the U-Haul due to so many working hands. After everything was inside, they headed towards Kat's apartment.

They arrived at their destination twenty minutes after they left the 'Storage Company'. The journey was taken with ease in the sense that Tommy already knew where Katherine's apartment was located.

They got off and Kat went up to the door and opened it sighing in exhaustion. She went inside turning on the lights in the process of it.

Tommy followed her inside the apartment looking around and seeing what a nice little place she had. "Nice place." He thought out loud.

"Thanks", Kat said. "So, do you want anything, or should we just get started?"

She didn't mean to be rude, but she wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She was afraid of Jessie getting there and completely acting like the asshole that he was. _I'll just call him later_, she thought.

Jessie worked for the FBI in Angel Grove. He had a record on every person in the country. With that under his belt, he felt a sense of power in him and had told Kat that he can get her involved in a murder even if she was nowhere to be seen in the crime.

Katherine was so scared by his threats the first night she had kicked him out of her apartment. Jessie had slapped her in the face after she confronted him about him sleeping with another woman.

He had convinced her to cut her hair and loose weight. Every time he saw her eating something fattening, he would throw insults in her face about how fat she was making her very self-conscious self. She was so embarrassed by his insults, she started getting apprehensions about her body image.

Jessie would hit her on a regular basis. He would pass by her and slap her on the head at times for no reason at all. He would force her to have sex with him continuously without protection because he wanted her to have his baby and like that, hook her with him forever. She on the other hand would take contraception pills without him knowing, but as for the rest, she couldn't find any way around her problems.

He had told her never to have a guy over at the apartment or else he'd kill him. Katherine wanted to get everything in the U-Haul before Jessie got out of work. He worked late on Saturdays and felt it was the right time to go and get everything done.

"Alright, that sounds like a good idea right now, the faster we get the stuff, the faster we can leave." Tommy answered her question.

He too didn't want to be rude, but he was in no position to want to see Jessie himself.

They quickly got to work on getting her clothes and the few items Jessie had left behind.

As Katherine made the last trip to the apartment she told Tommy that there was no more stuff to get. Tommy was relieved that they were done so quickly and wanted to get out of there. At that, Katherine heard a truck parking in front of her apartment.

She went to the window and opened the blinds a bit to see who it was. She gasped at the vehicle she saw. It was Jessie and he was making his way towards the door.

* * *

Jessie was getting to the door when Tommy heard a familiar beep coming from his wrist.

_Aww man! Now I have to leave Katherine here alone,_ he thought, not knowing what Katherine was witnessing outside her apartment.

At the sound of the beep, Katherine turned her head around and Tommy looked at her with disappointment in his eyes.

"Kat, remember a certain thing we talked about at Hayley's the other day?" Tommy began.

Katherine nodded her head quickly and motioned him to go into the room. He wanted to leave right then and there but understood perfectly when he saw the fear coming out of her eyes. He then heard the doorknob being unlocked and quickly headed to the bedroom.

Tommy quickly got to his destination and hid from Jessie. He knew all too well it was he who was causing such fear inside of Katherine. As he was making his escape, he heard bickering coming from the living room. He had to leave, but didn't want to leave Kat there by herself to deal with an idiot like Jessie.

"Listen slut, now tell me who that damn jeep belongs to!" Jessie screamed at the top of his lungs and grabbed Katherine's hair turning her head around towards the blinds.

Katherine let out a small shriek hoping Tommy was gone and unable to hear what was going on.

"Tell me, bitch!" Jessie yelled again.

"It's just my friend's jeep. She let me borrow it to pick up my things." Katherine said quickly before another insult came out of his mouth.

"Yeah right, and I'm supposed to believe that?" He grabbed her hips and looked inside her eyes grinning. "Now baby, you know I don't like to be lied to, now tell me the truth. I know it's a guy's jeep, every guy knows that."

Katherine felt like wanting to be swallowed by the ground and never being spat out. She looked down and without any facial expression, tears fell down her face.

Tommy put his head parallel to the wall letting his ear touch the cold sheetrock forcefully trying to vision with his imagination what was going on in the other room by the loud, intensive yells of arguing going on, mainly done by Jessie.

Tommy couldn't tell exactly what his mind was making out, but he knew that it was definitely not good. He couldn't resist his rage any longer, and had to open the door slightly. He didn't step into the living room but was very curious as to what was going on but most importantly he was very anxious to see what was going to happen.

Jessie, seeing his girlfriend's tears becomes 'concerned' and pulls her by the hips gently towards him and gets her chin lightly with his pointer and thumb raising her head to meet his eyes.

"Baby, I know you don't wanna lie to me right?" Jessie says softly.

Katherine nods her head silently and thinks, _if I tell him it's Tommy's jeep, he's going to go psycho on me._

"So…" Jessie began, "just tell me…who's jeep is it baby?"

Katherine had no other choice than to say the truth. He was eventually going to find out, but decided instead to stick with her guns.

"It's Annabel's truck." She began, and continued quickly before Jessie would get even angrier with her. "I met her in the school, she works for the administration and let me borrow it for the weekend."

"Oh, okay", Jessie said calmly.

Katherine let out a mental sigh of relief before looking to her left seeing an open hand crossing her and striking her in the face. At the slap, her head turned towards the same direction of the slap while she let out a huge cry and grabbing the injured area forcefully in habit of trying to heal the pain somewhat.

"You think I'm gonna buy that shit?" Jessie yelled. "I know that's a guy's jeep, bitch. Now tell me what shitty guy owns that piece of garbage outside!"

At the sound and witness of the slap, Tommy could feel his rage coming forcefully now over him and couldn't take it anymore. He felt the blood from his veins rush to his head and just wanted to explode with punches and blows at Jessie. Needless to say, he interfered in their argument.

"That piece of garbage belongs to me!" Tommy yelled while coming out of the room.

Jessie looked at Tommy and his eyes widened with rage. He then looked at Katherine with the same bit of rage and punched her fist closed in the gut making her jerk back and bend forward with pain. Again she let out a shriek of pain at the hit and was then pushed down to the ground by her "creep" boyfriend. She hit the floor strongly making a small cry on her way down and a huge thump as she met the thin carpeting with her buttocks and lower back.

She had put her arms for support of the fall but failed to support anything at all because she slammed onto the floor before her hands could get to it.

Tommy witnessed Jessie's actions and took off his glasses quickly and threw them somewhat gently but swiftly away from harms way.

He interfered in their argument like any sane person would have in his situation. He was furious at this point. He couldn't stop the slap from happening, nor the punch, but he definitely said to himself that was the last time any sucker put his hands on the woman he so greatly adored.

Jessie walked slowly towards Tommy making his way over to him with an evil grin on his face. "Hope you can take me on loser."

Tommy was making his way to Jessie in five times the speed Jessie was going.

Katherine at this time knew for sure there was going to be trouble and decided to stay out of the way and let Tommy handle matters now.

She got up and grabbed Tommy's glasses not wanting anything to happen to them.

Jessie was now in front of Tommy looking at his eyes. He saw a sluggish man with a look of rage.

"This is going to be fun slug man." Jessie said, with a still devilish voice.

Tommy looked in Jessie's eyes not taking his sight away from him, they hadn't looked at each other for more than a second before Jessie let in that first blow.

Tommy weaved back letting Jessie's hand miss his chest and hit air.

Tommy knew, from all of his training in martial arts, there was nothing worst than hitting air. It completely lost ones focus, balance, and above all, strength.

Tommy quickly grabbed Jessie's arm which he used to hit air and twisted it to Jessie's surprise.

Jessie had no idea Tommy was _that_ strong and his eyes widened with fear. He didn't have much time to think at all what his next move was going to be.

Tommy then pushed Jessie's chest away from his arm tripping him at the same time. He made Jessie fly a couple of feet backward letting out his sensei call, "eeh, yah!"

Jessie was dumbfounded by Tommy's actions and did not want to get up from the floor; he knew all too well that a sensei would not fight an enemy if he/she was on the ground as a sign of surrender.

Tommy on the other hand had his mind full of Katherine.

He was thinking about Jessie hitting her over and over again. Those yells that Jason told him about. Those stupid screams that he could just imagine Katherine getting and letting them sink deep into her ear drums.

He thought about Katherine not having an appetite. The days he asked her to eat and she refused. He also thought about the way she was behaving around the site of food. She would look away for some reason, trying to fight back the demons that haunted her; hunger. There was nothing worst he thought, than telling the woman you loved she was fat and has her be so insecure about her beautiful body.

He also thought about Jessie slapping her and punching her in the stomach. That was, he thought, the worst one of them all. Not the simple fact of a man hitting a woman. Of course, that crossed his mind a couple of times too, but the simple fact that Jessie was hitting _his_ woman. Tommy's girl. He couldn't help but feel wrath in just running the slap and the punch over in his mind. It kept running as if in a tape that was just rewinding in his mind and an invisible person was pushing play on it and just laughing hysterically at his girl.

With all of that in his head just running through his brain like a vulture eating at its prey, Tommy could not resist the temptation of beating Jessie as hard as he had ever beat anyone in his life.

His fury was so much fuller and so over powering, Tommy felt his resentment getting the best of him.

He ran towards Jessie and picked him up by his collar. "Fight you son of a bitch!" Tommy yelled in Jessie's face. "What, I'm not Katherine, is that it? Is that why you won't fight back you little bitch?"

Jessie looked at Tommy bewilderedly as Tommy again struck him. This time he punched him on the right side of his face with a left fist. He hit him more than once. He actually hit him five times continuously at the upper right corner of Jessie's cheek.

Jessie could not do anything at Tommy's hits because of the simple fact that Tommy was just too fast and strong for him.

Jessie had usually won fights. The fights he would start, and caught the other guy off guard and without sense.

Tommy then let Jessie go and he fell to the floor hard. He didn't feel at all sorry for the now bleeding small guy.

Jessie was 6' 4" with a good physique. His eyes were green and full. His hair was as dark as the night. His blond features made him look very attractive although his hair was dyed black. Every inch of his body was aching and sore in twenty seconds of getting beaten. He couldn't feel anything on the right side of his face.

Tommy then picked him up like a rag doll and threw him against the wall choking the life out of him.

After seeing the rage inside of Tommy, Katherine was somehow afraid of him. She didn't want to go near him for the fear of getting hit by yet another man. She didn't want this to go on any longer, although she saw Jessie's face go from red, to purple, to blue. She then knew it was her cue to say something to Tommy.

She got up and yelled, "Tommy! Stop!" Tommy heard Katherine's voice behind him and gently let go of Jessie's hold.

She didn't yell for fear of having Jessie die for some reason. She had gained so much vicious hatred against him by now; she really didn't care _what_ happened to him at this point. The huge thought that was going through her head right then and there was Tommy.

She didn't know why, but she preferred to keep Jessie from dying all because she didn't want to see the man she loved so much go to jail. Especially not for Jessie. She couldn't help but feel a thought of disgrace for what she had witnessed. She couldn't help but feel happy for what Jessie was going through, but sad for how happy she really was. That wasn't like her. Not like her at all.

Jessie fell into a deep sleep of unconsciousness as Tommy quickly let him go.

He turned to see Katherine's eyes full of tears. Her face wet from sobbing so much. He hadn't even heard her at all. He hadn't heard her tears swimming down her face. He put one hand up and touched her skin gently wiping away some tears, although it would have not made any difference since she was still sobbing uncontrollably.

"Who was that?" She whispered.

"Kat, I'm sorry." Is all that Tommy could say understanding what she was referring to.

She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. She saw Tommy tackling this guy that she had known for over three years. She hadn't dated him _that_ long, but she knew who he was. On the other hand, she completely saw Tommy's eyes, and she wanted to be true to herself, but denied that she felt nothing but fear in her soul.

His eyes became calm and brown. The blackness of his gaze was gone, and the apologies would soon be coming forth from an undisclosed dealer inside of him just wanting to get rid of his drugs. Those drugs of words that he felt, that he knew he had to say, she must have seen them coming too because she spoke out first.

"Tommy, don't even bother apologizing" she said, now calming down her sobs. "I understand why you did what you did."

He looked down in shame, but couldn't help but feel a bit proud of beating Jessie like that. It felt so good to feel his fist go into Jessie's flesh the way it did. Not because Tommy advertised nor promoted violence, but for the simple fact that he had hurt Katherine. Kat, that beautiful woman he could not stop thinking about ever since the last day he saw her at the airport getting on a plane towards London.

That woman that was now standing in front of him looking deep into his eyes, and he felt that she was also looking deep into his thoughts because before he could think, she was leaning towards him, meeting him in a profound kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 7 / A Few Thoughts from Two Lovers**

Katherine and Tommy had managed to get Jessie up out of his unconsciousness and he was now sitting with his back towards the wall leaning on it. He was sore, angry, but above all embarrassed. He was thinking in his mind how the pain and anger completely took the back seat of embarrassment.

Katherine managed to find an ice pack in the refrigerator beside the Arm & Hammer she was also going to leave behind. She went into the living room. Tommy was sitting on the floor with his legs bent upward and his arms resting gently on top of his knees. His hands hung loosely in front of him as he dangled his keys with his left hand just looking out into thin air.

Jessie was sitting on the floor as well leaning back on the longest wall in the living room a few inches away from where he lay just a few minutes ago.

Katherine went towards Jessie, and him seeing her managed to painfully raise his right arm to stop her. "No thanks, I could do without it." He was not going to have his macho-ness be again controlled tonight.

She then stopped for a second before heading towards him again. "Listen, I don't care how strong you think you are, but you really need to put this on there." She said handing Jessie the ice pack and motioning to the huge open wound he had on the right side of his face. "I think you're gonna need some stitches too." She continued.

He held the ice pack on his wound which was still bleeding making him flinch at it touching his face. He didn't want to show weakness…again…so he just took the pain like a 'man'.

Katherine genuinely shook her head a little at the sight and thought of her now ex-boyfriend just acting like a complete child.

Tommy stood up and headed towards the door. "I'll be back." He said.

"Umm, where are you going?" Katherine asked, trying not to sound too demanding.

"I just need some fresh air." He said. "Tell me if you need anything", he continued speaking to Katherine while motioning to Jessie, "I'll leave the door open."

"Okay" Katherine said, a little unsatisfied with the response of 'I just need some fresh air.' She had noticed that Tommy was acting a bit distant with her since she had told him that they should try to take Jessie to the hospital.

He declined the offer, but didn't want to make Kat mad, so he willfully gave in and decided to take him to the hospital.

When Jessie came to, he didn't want to go, and Tommy quickly went to sit down on the floor where he had just a moment ago gotten up from.

Katherine saw Tommy walk away just a couple of feet from the door and she saw him start pacing around.

Jessie looked at him too, but in a different way Katherine saw him of course. He saw Tommy with eyes full of hatred but he had to admit, he somehow respected him in a way. Not for defending Katherine, but for fighting like he did. Jessie had never felt such strong punches before his battle with Tommy.

Katherine noticed Jessie in deep thought, but didn't care and still made her way towards him saying, "you know, he hates people fighting other people for no apparent reason, especially when a man hits a woman."

Jessie looked up at her with no such care in his facial expression. "And?" he stated.

Katherine couldn't help but feel mad at the fact that Jessie, even after getting beaten so badly was still acting like a buffoon. She rolled her eyes to where she knew he could see her and just turned around to leave the living room. Something on the way stopped her though. Her frustration she thought was the backlash that sent her through the edge and through that mental wall that she had set up for herself against Jessie. She then turned to him with so much anger in her voice, that Jessie was struck with it forcefully; he couldn't do anything but just sit there and listen to his beaten ex-girlfriend.

"You know", she began, "just because you work for the FBI doesn't mean you can treat me like this. You think you have balls? Well, if you ask me, you're nothing but a damn coward! You think you're such a man? All you are is a woman beater! That's not a man! That's just nothing but a poor excuse for a boy! I just think you fight women cuz you know you can beat them; and as for fighting guys, well the only guys you dare to fight are the ones with your same physique and even then, you catch _them_ off guard! What about tonight, huh? Did you think you were such a man? No! You were the coward that you have always been. Just because you knew you would get your ass kicked, you stayed on the floor! I'm glad Tommy kicked your ass tonight, just so you can know what it feels like to be humiliated, and beaten without you even being able to say anything!"

She calmed down and just stared at him angrily.

"So, that's how you feel? You think I'm a coward? Let me see you go through FBI training and then tell me who the coward is!" Jessie still did not want to change his ways of thinking and just demanded an answer from Kat.

Katherine then thought to herself about her ranger days and just laughed internally at the thought that if Jessie was complaining about FBI training, he would not last one day in the line of battle. She decided to keep her thoughts to herself though, seeing as it _was_ a rule of being a ranger; though she did see that Jessie, although a smart man, was not going to change his ways of seeing this situation in another way.

"Well don't they teach you in the FBI _training_," she said with sarcasm in her voice, "that there are certain rules you should abide by? Like, not taking for granted your position, and especially not threatening anyone that you have the _FBI_ power superior to them?" She continued sarcastically.

Jessie just saw her with different eyes now. He didn't know what had stuck Katherine to be acting so differently in the sense that she was just completely acting like a different person than he thought she was.

Jessie didn't know it, but Katherine was acting in such a power because of Tommy. Having him by her side, she felt immortal. She felt as if the world could come down crashing upon her, and nothing would happen to her because he was there. He was there for her, and only her.

She never felt such anger come across her like that. The anger she felt for Jessie was now getting her good side, but Katherine, being controlling of her own emotions, she calmed herself down mentally and began her next statement towards Jessie.

"I see that you're never going to change. No matter what anyone does or says to you; but I _will_ tell you this: if you ever come near me again, I will have the police on your ass so fast, it'll make your head spin. Just know that this _will_ be on record, because I'm not letting you get away so easily. So, if you don't want to see anything coming your way, especially a pink slip, I suggest you don't even think about pressing charges on Tommy for what he did to your sorry ass."

Jessie couldn't do anything but nod his head. "You keep your mouth shut about what I did to you, and I'll keep my mouth shut about what he did to me." Jessie then said with a dealer voice.

"Fine." Katherine said, knowing that even if she _did_ press charges on Jessie, he still wouldn't say anything, because she knew his pride was too important to him to have him say something like, 'I was beat up by a paleontologist', not knowing of course that Tommy too had been and _still_ is a Power Ranger.

She decided not to mess with it anymore; she just wanted to get as far away from Jessie as she could. With that note, she then stated, "so, you sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" She sounded annoyed, but still, she knew she _had_ to ask.

"I'll be fine." He said, before adding, "you and your little boyfriend better get out of here before the landlord sees the stuff in his truck. I don't want you to get in trouble…

Kat knew Jessie was not finished with his sentence but couldn't help it feel that he was being fairly nice in the situation now.

…before he catches you and I have to see your ugly face here another day."

Somehow, she knew it was too good to be true. With that, she smiled at him and nodded her head. She was just happy that he didn't say anything after that. She turned and started towards Tommy.

* * *

She closed the door behind her and headed towards the jeep. She thought Tommy saw her because she opened the door to the jeep and stopped before getting in. It was then that she realized he was deep in thought, and to be honest to herself, it didn't look good.

"Hey," she said, as she walked by him after closing the jeep's door again.

Tommy turned quickly and was a bit startled to be shaken out of his thought like that.

"Did you talk to the kids about why you didn't go?" She had to ask.

"Yeah," he said. He then saw Kat's face burn with embarrassment before he added, "but I didn't tell them why. I just said I couldn't make it."

Her face went from red back to its original soft creamy shade as she asked, "So, how did they do without you?"

"Ah, they're a strong group, I'm their mentor, remember?" He said with joking conceited pride in his voice.

She then nodded in agreement truthfully before saying, "well, I think we better be getting out of here, if the landlord sees me, he's going to have a fit."

"Oh, alright." Tommy said as he turned towards the jeep and headed to open Kat's side door.

She was about to get in, when she remembered she had a car of her own. "Oh, I'm gonna ride in my car remember?" She told him as she refreshed his memory as well.

"Oh yeah." He said innocently.

She still had use of him opening the door for her because her keys were on the passenger side of the seat in her purse. "So, what highway are you going to take?" She asked, trying to get him to give her a small detour of the direction he was going to take.

"I'm gonna take I-10" he said. "Get on the freeway and just get off on Hill Town Exit. I'm pretty sure you're gonna be tired by then because it should be really late."

She nodded her head and smiled. "Okay" she said. She gently touched his face before bringing him in for a small kiss.

Tommy leaned in and kissed her with a small sense of passion in his kiss not wanting to get into it so bad. He knew once he got started kissing her, he wouldn't want to stop.

They broke apart their quick kiss and Tommy followed her towards her car. He grabbed her hand firmly as they walked side by side together in the parking lot.

Once they made the extra few but long feet to her car, she pressed the off button on her alarm. She then unlocked it with the same keychain hanging from her keys and headed towards opening the door.

She unlocked it, but it was Tommy who opened it for her as she made her way in between the car and Tommy. He held her from her hip firmly showing his affection towards her which she couldn't do anything other than blush to.

She turned as she was now in between the door and Tommy, having the driver seat door open and to her right. Tommy pulled her close to him as she smiled at his movement of hands that were just bursting with love towards her. She wrapped both her hands around the back of his neck, while she too somewhat pulled him closer to her.

"So, I'll see you at Hill Top?" He said to her in a sense of a question.

She looked deep into his eyes and nodded her head. "Yeah, you still have some of my stuff at your house. Not to mention _all _of my furniture in the back of your jeep." She joked.

He couldn't help but smile at her remark and just tapped her gently on her behind. They both chuckled a bit at their actions because as Tommy tapped her, she somewhat kissed him on the tip of his nose.

Tommy sighed at the thought that he wasn't going to be able to see Kat for four whole hours but still knew she was going to follow him, furniture or no furniture. He then leaned in towards her as she too leaned in for a final kiss before heading towards their destination.

They once again broke apart after five final kisses when Katherine saw with her ninety-degree angle vision someone standing beside them just a few inches away from her car.

She jumped at the sight of the figure standing there with his arms on both sides of his hips. He looked as if he was angry making his somewhat wrinkled lips to one side of his mouth as his left eye twitched a bit and the other had its upper lid closed a little.

"Mr. Hems!" Katherine couldn't help but look alarmed at the figure. It was her landlord and he looked as if he was mad enough to take them both apart.

"Yes", he stated with such a fierce old voice, "I see that jeep parked outside your apartment there missy," he said pointing at Kat's apartment, but mostly at Tommy's jeep. "I also see a U-Haul behind it. Is it carrying your furniture?"

"Oh, no, well yes," Katherine's voice was unstable now. "Umm, you see, I bought new furniture, and my boyfriend here was just helping me take this one out and give it to my parents", she lied.

"I'll see you back here then later." He said, keeping a sharp eye on her.

"Oh, no, you see, I'm going to spend the night at my parents, and tomorrow morning I have to go to work, so, you probably won't see me until tomorrow afternoon." She then told him.

"Oh, well, as long as you remember to pay me next months rent by next week, everything is fine by me." He then said.

"Oh, yes Mr. Hemms, wouldn't dream about missing a payment. You'll boot me out of here for sure." She somewhat joked with the old man.

"Alrighty then sweetie, I'll see you Sunday." He said as he was turning around. As he slowly made his way to his office, Tommy and Katherine both heard his mumblings as he was going about, "rotten kids, think they can kiss all over public area like that…"

They both then looked at each other and couldn't do anything else but laugh at the old man. Katherine knew he was a nice man, although a bit of a grumpy old man about ninety-nine percent of the time.

Both of them went back to their business and gave each other three last intense kisses before Katherine got into her car and let it warm up while Tommy made his way to his jeep.

He turned on the ignition, and made his way out of the parking lot. Katherine pulled out behind him, following her 'boyfriend'.

* * *

Tommy and Katherine were both at a red light. At this point, Katherine was next to Tommy pushing in the brake pedal of her car. Tommy was sneaking looks at his left in her direction just thinking to himself how lucky he was to have her back in his life.

Katherine like wise was sneaking short looks here and there. It was somewhat of a long red light, but when the light went from red to green, Katherine took her foot off of the brake and pushed in the accelerator pedal in lightly, enough to beat Tommy passed the pedestrian crossing lanes.

Tommy was a bit slower at the reaction of the light because his mind was on Katherine. It wasn't till he saw from the corner of his eye the Mustang pull out of the still position that he realized he had to go on green.

They both made it up the rail of the highway in the two lanes, where it turned into one for the entrance of the freeway on I-10. Tommy let Katherine pass his jeep completely letting her get on the freeway first.

A while later, they were both on their way towards Hill Top; it was a quiet little town Tommy knew. They had stopped there for a rest where Katherine supposedly was sitting on her 'throne'.

On their way, they were both deep in their thoughts, still focusing on the traffic going around them.

Katherine thought to herself, _oh my God! Did I just call him my boyfriend a while ago? Come on, we kissed, yeah, but jeez, who do I think I am just blurting something out like that? It doesn't even mean we're dating! Oh jeez, how could I have said that? Maybe he didn't realize I said anything about 'boyfriend'…_

Tommy on the other hand was thinking, _man! How in the hell does she just want me to take a stupid idiot that beat the crap out of her to the damn hospital? Who does she think I am? The World Health Organization? Then again, she 'did' give it to him good when I was outside. I couldn't have said it better myself. 'Coward!' Ha, Classic. _He said to himself between mental chuckles. _Oh man, but that kiss she gave me…it was just so freakin' perfect. Ah, I'd love to just pull over and give her a huge wet kiss right now…_

Katherine by now was mentally kicking herself in the head for saying what she said, _boyfriend, damn Kat! Urgh. That was by far the stupidest thing I could have said, then again, I 'was' lying to Mr. Hemms. Maybe Tommy took it as a lie as well…_

Tommy was also thinking about the scene with Mr. Hemms at that time as well, _ah, now 'that' was classic. It was so funny to see that old man just making her trip with words like that. Hmm, I don't think I've ever heard Katherine lie to the elderly before. Ooh, mental note: tell Katherine about that later, no, no, no, make 'fun' of Katherine about that later. Yeah, that's it. 'My boyfriend is helping me move furniture', ha, ha…wait a minute…did she say boyfriend?..._

Katherine was now seeing a sign that read, 'PARKVIEW 45 MILES, BEAUMONT 85 MILES, HILL TOP 140 MILES' she couldn't help but yawn at the frustration of Hill Top still being so far away.

Tommy read the sign too, but wasn't so interested in the mileage still, more so because he was still on the same thought, although in a happier tone than Katherine was; _boyfriend. That was nice of her. Then again, she probably just said it because her landlord was there. She 'might' have been seen as a bit of a slut to him if she had said 'my friend' after she was so clearly making out with me. And boy were we making out! Oh, man, I really need to talk about that. Hmm, knowing her, if I bring up the subject and somehow make fun of her about it, she's gonna get as red as she always does when she's embarrassed. Ah, Tommy, you know her too damn well. It 'would' be nice to be free to call her my girlfriend. I mean, who wouldn't want a girl like 'that'? She's gorgeous! Although I wouldn't picture her as a short hair girl myself, she makes the look work for her. I still can't believe she called me her boyfriend, mental note: speak to her about…no, no, no, make 'fun' of her about the boyfriend situation later. _He was almost done with that thought before adding, _oh yeah, like 'I'd' remember anything._

_Oh, man, that kiss was incredible; he 'did' kiss me like he meant it. What if I was just another one of his girlfriends that he had sex with in High School? I wonder if he ever did it with Heather? Na', he couldn't had, they only dated for a day or two. Then again, she was a bit older than him, hmm, I wonder…no, Katherine, don't get ahead of yourself, he wasn't like that. Then again, was she? I wonder if she ever wanted to do something with him though, I 'would' give her that one, hell, 'I' wanted to do something with him too! _She was too into her thoughts and did not notice the signs up ahead of her drive.

* * *

In no time flat, she saw the next sign that read, 'HILL TOP 5 MILES, SAN JUDAS 35 MILES, REEFSIDE 425 MILES'. She was so happy that she hadn't focused much on the signs, she got to Hill Top much faster than she expected.

It was five minutes before she put her right signal light to get off in the small town. Tommy followed behind her, as well as another car after him.

It was well past two am, when they arrived in the small town, Katherine then let Tommy pass her vehicle and he led her to the hotel, Riata Inn.

They both parked side by side getting off almost at the same time on the right side of the building. Katherine went to the other side of her car and retrieved her purse from in back of the passenger seat. Tommy came up behind her grabbing her hips snugly on his palms. She didn't make a sign of uncertainty, she knew it was Tommy behind her, and just didn't mind at all where his hands were. She then stood up from her crouching position that she was in and turned to him.

"Shall we then?" She said, with a bit of a smirk on her face.

"Oh, we shall." He said, in his charming way that only Tommy knew how to speak.

He let go of her hips and dropped his arms while extending his left hand out so she can get it. She willfully took it, and they headed inside the hotel.

Before they got to the front desk, they stopped for a moment to argue a bit on who was going to pay for the rooms. Katherine ended up winning since she _was_ the one who brought up the conversation. She made her point proven to him when she told him he was the one that had paid for the gas _and_ he was still letting her stay in his home. Tommy didn't like the idea of Katherine paying for him, but didn't care after long, since he was just ready to go to sleep.

They arrived at the front desk and Katherine asked the clerk for two separate rooms. Tommy didn't mind the separation, seeing as he honestly didn't know what to expect from his body spending the whole night in the same room with the woman he loved.

The clerk typed in Kat's name and information in the computer provided for him. As he was taking Kat's credit card, he paused for a moment to tell the other man that had just entered there was no more rooms available.

Katherine didn't know what to say because she surely didn't want to leave this man without a room. Tommy then looked into her eyes and she just melted at the sight of his gaze. She then told the clerk, "well, you know, you can just go ahead and charge me for one room."

She handed him her credit card and he took it this time. He then gave her two cards for the door and they headed to the room to check it out, Tommy still hassling her about paying for the room.


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 8 / Bed _and_ Breakfast**

They both entered this lavish room with purple draping everywhere. It was beautiful how everything was so in its place, it seemed as if one moved anything from anywhere, the room would completely look undone.

Tommy then went into the bathroom because he couldn't hold it in much longer. He was holding in his urine since Beaumont.

Katherine just went into the bedroom having gone to the restroom at Rocky's house and surprisingly enough, did not have to extract any fluid from her body.

She laid down on the bed with her head looking up at the stunning cream white ceiling. She then heard Tommy come out of the bathroom and was just picking up her head from its position.

"Hey, can you do me a huge favor?" she asked.

"Yeah, anything", he countered.

"Could you turn down the light a bit, my eyes are getting restless and really sore with this light."

"Yeah, sure." He went over to the wall next to the door. He closed the door not wanting any more light to come into the room. He then turned down the round light switch and toned down the lights from a bright sun to a warm glow.

"That's much better." She said, before he could ask if that was okay.

She stood up and went to one side of the bed. She slipped off her white thong sandals, while Tommy started to take of his shoes using one foot to take of one shoe, and then the other to take off the other shoe. He then removed his socks and put them both inside one of the shoes.

"Man, it's going to feel so good to get back home and take a shower", he said, while laying under the covers next to Katherine, who was already situated in her sleeping position.

"Yeah, I know." She said, while yawning a bit.

"Sleepy?" He asked in a sly voice.

"Mm, hmm", she said, while nodding her head.

They were both turning towards each other. Katherine was on her right side with her two hands in a praying expression resting on the pillow in between the pillow and her right ear. Tommy was lying on his left side with his head resting on his left arm. He had his right arm stretched out parallel to his body.

They both fell silent for a moment as they fix their eyes on one another.

"Tommy, I'm really happy to be here with you tonight." She started.

"I'm happy to be here with you too, Kat." He said with gentle sincere voice.

Tommy then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Katherine couldn't resist and lightly retrieved his head back from making itself to its rightful position. She turned his head towards her and pressed her lips against his. Tommy was somewhat dumbfounded by her actions, not knowing what to expect from her next. He kissed her back, like only he knew how she liked being kissed.

Tommy felt the softness of her lips against his as they both started getting closer to each other.

Katherine sensed the warmth of his mouth fixate on her every kiss that she gave to him.

As Tommy was now making his way up her blouse with his warm touch, he considered her moistened tongue licking his lips and again making itself back into his mouth.

She now felt the stiffness of his erection press against her leg being pushed up against her. She couldn't help but have lust triumph all over her body. It took command as if she did not have any control of it anymore. As Tommy pressed his erection up against her, he heard her moan a bit which he quickly felt the desire burning inside of him even hotter than it was before.

He couldn't wait any longer but wanted to respect the love of his life; until she was the first one to grab his shirt and pull it up over his head. She took a good grip because she pulled off not one, but two shirts off of him. He was wearing a shirt and a muscle shirt under that one. She then placed both shirts on the floor to her left and proceeded to unbuckle his belt.

As Tommy felt her warm hands tickle his lower abdomen, he couldn't help but move a bit to his right, making himself a bit more on top of her. She pulled his belt to the sides when she was done with it and carried on to undo his jeans. He could feel her ring and pinky fingers playing around with his boxers as she unbuttoned and unzipped him. He couldn't help but get even more turned on than he already was.

He himself pulled off his jeans and placed them on the side beside his shirts. He was kneeled in front of her while she cuffed her knees up and he spread open her legs gently holding her knees firmly while making his way slowly in between them.

He leaned in closer to her and kissed her again placing his palms wide open on each side of her. She clamped his back with her fingernails pressing against his back gently but firmly not losing grip of him. He pressed up against her once more making her whimper a bit in craving him once more.

He then kissed her neck twirling his tongue up and down, left to right. She closed her eyes in the pleasure that he was continuously giving her. Tommy moved down slowly with his tongue still against her soft skin, caressing her over and over again. After softly sucking on her shoulder down to the mid of her sternum, he looked up at her not moving his eyes from hers as he slowly raised her blouse over her head removing it from its original position and placing it on top of his clothes.

Going from the bottom of her neck down to her stomach, he let his fingers dance gently on her skin. She had never felt such care for her body with anyone else than with Tommy. He was the only guy that had completely treated her body as if it was a fragile, breakable glass. He motioned to his fingers to go down to her hips pressing his right hand fingers firmly against her left hip under her jeans.

Again she let out a small whimper as to Tommy's comprehension that she liked that. He then let his kisses come down to the mid of her thin skin visibly sternum, and made his way down with his kisses. He kissed her while gently sucking at the bottom part of her rib cage getting to the bruise that Jessie had made her.

He stopped in mid air and looked up at her with concern in his eyes. "It doesn't hurt, really," she lied. She didn't want to ruin this perfect moment while Tommy was caressing every inch of her frontal body parts.

"Alright," he nodded gently, and went back to suckling her beautiful body.

He kissed and nibbled on her abdomen, while undoing her button on her jeans. He unzipped her zipper as he let his fingers wander over her very sensitive area. Kat moved a bit at this, and again, Tommy comprehending that she liked it. He then pulled off her pants gently and as he placed her jeans on his right side, he embraced her soft right leg with his left hand. He caressed her legs now, being in between them again with his soft warm fingers.

He then made his way up picking her up gently and bringing her into his arms hugging her lovingly. She turned her face towards his chest, kissing him continuously while he undid her bra hoops from the back, lowered her bra straps genuinely, and removing it, placing the black lace bra on the side with the rest of the clothes, exposing her large, round, u-shaped breasts. He surrounded her breasts by cupping his hands around each of them compressing them against his fingers.

He let her down gently again while kissing her affectionately. He made his way down her abdomen again by kissing her gently in every corner of her abs. He gently started pulling at her black lace thong which matched her bra. He held the two thin hip straps around his fingers and gently playing with them before he slowly and cautiously pulled them down and away from her placing them too on the clothes pile on the floor.

Katherine now opened her legs once again exposing her nude body to him completely. He couldn't help but get turned on even more as her body was very different as it was in High School. She was leaner and thinner than he remembered her. He became aware and mostly concerned about her massive weight loss but didn't want to say anything about it now. He was too aroused at the fact that in just moments, he was going to have Katherine once again inside the core of his heart.

Tommy grabbed Katherine's leg and picked it up to his lips. He started kissing her left leg profusely as she clamped onto the pillow with both her hands tightly trying to avoid arching her back forward. He was making his way up her leg while kissing it and pressing his left cheek against her inner right thigh. He began to conquer her female genitalia as soft as he could still keeping a strong firm tongue in the process. He didn't hear a moan from her until he began to stroke it a little harder with his tongue making him hear what he wanted to.

As she was about to hit her climax, she closed her legs forcefully with his head still in the middle. He then knew it was time to enter her body authentically. In the traditional love making position, he made his way up to her.

He was now eye-level with her, and he kissed her tenderly once more on her lustrous lips. She whimpered, loudly this time, as he penetrated himself inside her. He felt her warm, small grotto and couldn't help but groan at her tautness himself. She let out a soft cry as he rhythmically made himself in and out of her, he could hear soft, whispered, murmurs come out of her shiny lips. They came as in pairs of two, entering through his ears and swiftly coming out of his mouth, as he too was moaning a bit while in between kisses with her.

He felt her climaxing again, and knew at that precise time, that her body was going to lock itself up again as it did before. He was going to try to let her come forcefully, since her body didn't allow it willingly.

Tommy then took his right hand and pushed her left hip down firmly, which was pushing up against him to close her legs. He kept with a non-stop rhythm as before and felt her body somewhat spasm and knew she had reached her peak. He let himself release as well, as they both reached their high point simultaneously as if on cue.

Kat let out a large cry as she arched her back vastly and quickly and felt her eyes roll back and her whole body down to her toes felt pleasantly numb.

Letting out a loud moan this time, Tommy too felt his body spasm, and felt a complete numb body as well.

They were both somewhat out of breath for some incredulous reason and kissed each other in between gasps of air.

"I love you Katherine…I love…love you so much, baby." Tommy said, in between kisses with Kat.

"I love you Tommy…I love you too." Katherine then added to the release of love between kisses.

* * *

The next morning, both Tommy and Kat were still in bed. Tommy had woken up about seven minutes ago, and Katherine was still fast asleep.

He got up and went to the phone. He dialed the digit six, and ordered breakfast for himself and Kat. After he was through, he went over to the bathroom and looked under the sink, sure enough, there was about ten toothbrushes individually wrapped in plastic and about ten small full Crest toothpaste tubes. He decided to brush his teeth, but then decided to pee first. He went over to the toilet not bothering to close the door this time and lifted up the lid.

After finishing, he went over to the sink, washed his hands and picked up the toothpaste. There was a knock on the door, he was a bit alarmed, but, he went over to answer it any ways. Tommy, before leaving the bathroom, saw two robes on the side of the shower hanging on the wall by two hooks. He quickly grabbed the first one, and headed towards the door.

"Yes?" He asked, while opening the door.

"Oh, hello sir, I'm from room service. Will you allow me to clean your suite and refill any necessities?" She asked.

The woman standing in front of him was of Hispanic decent. She looked young, as in her early 20s. She wore a sky blue simple dress, with a white apron over it, covering most of the dress except for the sleeves and bottom inch of the dress. She had her hair up in a bun; it looked as if it was fairly short, about shoulder length. Although, one could not be so sure, having it up like that. She spoke perfectly good English, had dark brown eyes, and a beautiful smile across her face.

"Umm, sure." Tommy said. "But, can you not go into the bedroom; my girlfriend's asleep in there." He added.

"Oh, sure." She said, still smiling while making her way in the suite with the polisher and rag.

He then turned and was going to go back into the bedroom before she spoke to him, "you know, you're wearing the ladies bath robe." She then added, "just thought you ought to know."

Tommy turned to look at her and then proceeded to look down at the robe, "really?" he asked, still in disbelief. "I _thought_ it felt it a little snug", he said before his face got red.

"Was there another one hanging by the shower?" She asked wanting to know if she needed to get a men's robe out of the cart.

"Yeah, but I got the first one I saw."

"Oh, okay. Well, whatever rocks your boat." She told him.

"I didn't know it was..."

"I know, I know, I'm just foolin' with you", she cut in.

"Oh," he said. He couldn't help but chuckle at the incident, and then headed towards the bedroom again.

He headed towards the bathroom, looking at Kat, who was still asleep as he past the bed.

He went inside the bathroom and picked up the toothpaste once more. He then proceeded to brush his teeth. When he was done, he put the toothbrush down and looked back, feeling someone watching him. He couldn't tell who it was, until he saw through the reflection in the mirror, Kat was sitting up on the bed and looking at him with a sly look on her face.

"Well, good morning." He said.

"You know you're wearing a ladies bathrobe right?" She then said, in between chuckles.

Tommy had forgotten to change it when he went back into the bathroom, and instantly turned red.

"Wait, you know that too?" He asked, going over and changing into the other bathrobe.

"Well, it has pick trimming on the bottom." Kat said.

He went over mocking her laugh while Katherine was completely laughing hysterically at this point.

He went over and tried to kiss her, but she leaned back and said, "oh no, you're not kissing me."

He stood upright and asked, "why not?"

"Morning breath", she said, while getting up, wrapping the white sheet around her under her arms and closing them for support to hold it up.

"Oh, well I don't care about that."

"Oh sure, says the man that just got finished brushing his teeth." She said while going to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her.

He looked puzzled at first, but then just shrugged his shoulders and sat down on the bed. He then thought about the girl out in the living room and went to go see if she was still there.

In the bathroom, Katherine was done urinating, and went over to the sink and washed her hands and brushed her teeth.

She then turned to see the bathrobe that Tommy had put back in its place. She shook her head while mentally laughing at the incident that had occurred a while ago. She smiled and grabbed the bathrobe to put it on.

When she came out, she didn't see Tommy in the bedroom and decided to go to the living room to see if he was there. He was, talking to a boy who was holding a round tray of food. He saw Tommy wave a thank you and gave him a tip. He then turned to look at Kat and smiled.

"Hungry?" He asked.

"Starving", she said.

They had not eaten anything since the day before at Jason's house and they were both very hungry. Tommy had plans of eating with Kat once they got her stuff into his jeep, but unfortunately, things usually don't work out the way they are planned. Yet again, he probably wouldn't be calling Kat his girlfriend and sharing a beautiful connection last night if it wasn't for the trouble they encountered the day before.

The boy had put the food on the living room table and went ahead and left. Tommy then went over to Kat and leaned in for a kiss. "So, can I kiss you _now_?" he asked, just a few centimeters away from her.

"No", she countered backing up a little.

Tommy leaned back in the upright position now, and asked with frustration, "why now, you have to have clothes on?"

"No, but I _do_ have to take a shower." She said while turning to go back into the bedroom.

Tommy looked down with disappointment of not kissing Kat. "Oh", he said.

As she was making her way into the bedroom, she turned her head gently and asked in a flirtatious way, "care to join me?"

Tommy quickly looked up and a huge smile crossed his face, "don't mind if I do", he said.

* * *

Kat got to the shower first and turned on the water. A few seconds later, Tommy stood behind her hugging her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She smiled and gently placed her left hand over his and her right hand in back of his neck.

Tommy leaned in and rested his head on her right shoulder and kissed the back of her neck on the right side then nibble on her earlobe.

She giggled as he slowly untied her robe and passed his hands up and down her front. Then, he slipped off her robe as she turned around to face him. He put his hands on her lower back as she pressed her lips onto his, sticking her tongue out and meeting his inside his mouth.

She untied his robe and slipped it off of him. She then passed her fingers caressingly down his muscular chest and now caressing her fingernails down his abs. She slipped her hand inside his boxers at each side of his hips pressing her fingers firmly against his skin.

She spread both her hands outward and slipped down his boxers under his thighs. They fell gravitationally onto the floor after that as she went along and licked his soft lips.

Kat kissed his cheek and made her way down his neck placing pop kisses on her way. As she got to his neck, she nibbled on it gently then a bit more forcefully. She started sucking at his skin and felt Tommy's erection against her once more. Feeling it excited her even more and continued to suck at his neck but a bit more forcefully than before.

She made her way down his chest licking and sucking on her way down to his abs. She knelt on the floor and began to spread gentle kisses all over his member. She then stuck her tongue out once more and began to lick and again suck while Tommy's neck bent backward.

He closed his eyes as he was feeling pleasured. The warmth of her mouth made him hold her head gently as it maneuvered its way from back to front, then back again. He ran his fingers through her blonde hair caressed the back of her head. The feeling of lust burned inside of him as he continued to moan and hiss at her action. He felt his body start to relax gently. Tommy was saying nothing, since he really couldn't get anything out. Katherine was just making him feel so right and knew exactly what she was doing.

She felt him spasm a bit and decided to go on a little longer until she felt a thick vein shake inside her mouth. It was then that she decided to stop and move away and stand while she saw Tommy's body jerk and eyes roll back in pleasure. He let out a somewhat of a loud groan and Kat just looked at him smiling while he was finished.

He turned to look at her and smiled himself. They both got in the shower and continued their flirtatiousness inside…

* * *

They had eaten at the hotel. Tommy ordered pancakes with syrup, scrambled eggs, sausage, and juice for both of them. They were both very full after their meal. Even though Tommy didn't quite feel like driving, he told Kat they had to leave because he needed to take care of some things in Reefside. Especially to see how his students are doing without him.

As they were both checked out of the hotel and back in the parking lot, they were again giving each other 'final' kisses.

"So, what gas station is it again?" Katherine asked.

"Chevron" Tommy told her once more.

"Alright, I'll just follow you. If you don't see me in back of you, pull over to the side and wait for my car, I know this is a small town, but one can still get lost."

"Okay, I will." He told her before giving her a last profound kiss.

They both got in their vehicles and drove to the gas station to fill up both the car and the jeep.

* * *

After filling their tanks, they both drove off in their vehicles out of the gas station and onto the freeway where their next stop would be Reefside.

In the car, Katherine was getting lost in her thoughts, not slamming her head in this time. She was thinking pleasant thoughts as she was still looking around checking the traffic around her. _I should really talk to him about the apartment as soon as we get to his house. He won't want to go out looking for one now. But if he says that he wants me to stay at his house, I know what my answer will be, 'no'. I can't stay there with him. Although, I 'would' get to see him everyday. What's to say I won't if I move out of there? I don't want to be a nuisance or anything. Urgh, this is so hard. I can't believe I had sex with him, over and over again._ She sighed. _It was good though…and worth it. I love him so much. I wonder if he knows how much I'm in love with him. Then again, I haven't really told him how I really feel since the only way we proclaimed our love for each other was after sex. I should just get him, sit him down, and just pour out all of my feelings towards him…_

Tommy too was deep in his thoughts before he saw the next green sign which read, 'REEFSIDE 35 MILES, YUMA 80 MILES, SAN FRANCISCO 340 MILES'.

"Finally, we're almost home", he thought out loud.


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 9 / Triangle of Love**

Katherine still didn't know the way quite well, and let Tommy pass her once more to lead her to his house. It seems as if they would never arrive driving that long road towards his house, but finally they were there. It was still the afternoon when Tommy and Kat arrived at Tommy's house.

Katherine, as soon as turning off the ignition, got out of the car quick. Again, her butt was feeling numb and just wanted to walk around again. "Man, is it just me, or do I not have any cushion on my back side" she said, while rubbing her numbness back to life as Tommy was getting out of his truck.

"Believe me; you have plenty of cushion, not to mention well appreciated by yours truly."

"Oh, great, now I have a bubble butt!" Kat said, joking around.

"No, no, I didn't mean it like that." Tommy said, trying to make her feel better, not knowing that Kat was just joking.

Kat decided to take that opportunity to say, "Well, I might feel better if you were to take my things inside" she said with innocence.

Tommy gave her a look that he was tired and Kat just dropped the subject going over to wrap her arms around Tommy. "You know, I'm really tired, how 'bout we both go inside, and sit on the couch." She compromised.

"Alright" Tommy said, before Kat added, "right after you take my things inside."

Tommy gave her another look of punishment and tickled Kat, "what?" he said.

Katherine squirmed out of his hold and ran towards the house, "alright, you win, you win" she yelled while going towards the door.

Tommy laughed along with Katherine, but both their laughter stopped when Tommy saw the door swing open before he could put the key in to unlock it.

"Holy shit," he whispered under his breath.

It was Kimberly Hart. Tommy had a one-night stand with Kimberly while he and Kat were broken up.

Kat just stood there after seeing the sight, with her mouth open, eyes wide open, and speechless.

"What…what are you doing here?" Tommy asked her.

"Well, I wanted to give you a surprise when you came back. But it only seems that I was the one who got surprised." Kim said, while looking Kat over.

Tommy looked at Kat, while Kat looked at Tommy at the same time. "Am I missing something here?" she said, trying to get what was going on.

"Um, you see, Kat, Kim and I…" Tommy began, but was cut off by Kimberly.

"We're back together!" Kimberly retorted.

Kat's heart felt like it was broken in a million pieces. She no longer felt it palpating. Her rhythm had stopped, and so had her brain. She felt as her knees got weak, a strong sense of just running away from that spot, but her feet wouldn't permit it. It was as if she was bolted to the floor, her feet covered in cement. She couldn't say anything at all and just felt her eyes sting with the fluid filling inside of them.

"No, no we're not, Kat" Tommy said to her. "We're not back together, trust me."

"Oh…" is all that Kat could get out at that time.

Kimberly shook her head and stated, "what about that night we shared Tommy? I told you I'd be back around these days, and you said okay. It wasn't that long ago."

"Kim…" Tommy didn't know what to say to her. He didn't want Kat to know what he had done, especially with whom he had done it with.

Kat just couldn't take it anymore and turned around. "Um, I think I should leave" she said while walking away.

"I think that's best…" Kim started to say before getting cut off by Tommy.

"No, Kat, don't go. Let me just sort things out. The last thing I want you to do is leave me." He said, going after her and stopping her before getting into her car.

"Look, Tommy, I think this was a mistake…"

"No Kat. The only thing I ever did with you that _was_ a mistake is letting you slip through my fingers. Please Kat, don't go. Don't leave me again."

Katherine saw the sincerity in his eyes and couldn't do anything but look down. She wanted to stay, but part of her told her to go. Not because she was sad at the fact that Tommy had sex with another girl, but the simple fact that he had sex with Kimberly. She didn't know what to think at that point. Part of her was feeling sad at the thought that she felt he didn't want her anymore; and the other part felt angry because she felt he was just using her for any reason.

Tommy then turned to Kimberly and said, "You know Kim, I think we should talk, but not now… later."

Kimberly smiled slyly and walked out of the doorway to meet Tommy who was now almost at the door.

"Alright, I guess we can figure it out. I heard she doesn't have a home any ways," she said, while caressing his face softly.

Tommy jerked his head back and said, "Kim, I literally begged her to stay with me, if you really wanna know."

"Well, I don't know Tommy, I just think you and that charity case should figure things out. Then I'll be waiting for your call. Okay baby?" She said.

Tommy didn't know what to think at this point. Kimberly had never acted so evil before. Well, on account of sexually evil that is. He didn't know what to make out of it, but decided to drop it there, not wanting to add anything to the pain he knew Kat was going through right now. He too had experienced that pain, finding out that she was with Jessie. He turned to meet Kat's eyes and motioning her to go inside the house with him.

"Kat?" he said.

Katherine stood there, speechless at the driver side of her car with the door swung open. She was going to get inside and drive off, but decided to go on inside and talk to Tommy about what was going on.

* * *

Tommy and Kat both went to the couch to sit down and sort this out.

"Before you say anything, please keep in mind Kat, that I love you. I'm in love with you so…"

"Tommy," Kat cut in, "stop, okay? I think we should just get down to what I'm here for."

"What's that?" he asked.

"I want to leave. I'll send someone for my things, but, I really have to leave." She said, tears forming in her eyes.

"Kat, please, we can work this out."

"Tommy, to tell you the truth, I don't think I could trust you. Well, with _her_ any ways."

"Kat, you don't have to worry about that, I don't want her, you gotta belie…"

"Yeah, like you didn't want her that night?" She asked rudely, without letting him finish his sentence.

Tommy just looked down with shame. If he had known then what he knows now, he would have never even looked Kimberly's way in the first place.

"Katherine, please, just give me a chance to explain" he pleaded.

Kat nodded her head, and decided that even Tommy needed a chance once in while. She never thought she would be having this type of argument with him. She always thought of him as her White Knight; nothing more, and nothing less.

"Kat…" Tommy began, before pausing; he needed to find the perfect words to say to her, without having it come out the wrong way. He knew that if he blew it somehow, he might never be able to call her _his_ anymore.

Kat crossed her arms and pressed herself back on the couch in frustration.

Tommy, noticing this, began. "I never meant for this to happen. Kim showed up at a fireworks display that I attended with my students. I saw her, and naturally, I greeted her with a smile. She then came over to us and met my alumni."

Kat was now giving him a look that she wanted him to speed up the story.

"Well, the night got late, and everyone had to head home. Kim and I decided to go to a bar to drink a bit, but mostly to talk about past ranger days."

At this, she nodded her head, showing she understood what he was saying. She too would get together with a past ranger to talk about their ranger days.

"Well, the alcohol started getting to me, yet, I still kept on drinking. I decided to go home, and she told me that if she could take me. I was way drunker than she was, and she at least could walk okay. So, I told her 'yes', and she brought me home."

Kat now understood well what he was trying to say. The alcohol got inside of him. She too had been drunk a couple of times in her life, but it never got _that_ far. Yet, she knew Tommy. He always tended to overdue things; like drinking, karate, thank God for condoms. She really needed to just tell herself that Tommy was just human; and as so, he would have tendencies, like everyone has.

"Once she helped me to the couch, she started kissing me, and caressing me, and…"

"Okay, that's enough; I don't have to hear what happened after that." Kat said, not wanting to continue the picture in her head of Tommy and Kim having sex with one another.

She understood why Tommy had sex with her, they were both drunk. She understood the laws of life.

1. If a couple is on a 'break' it gives the couple freedom to do what they want.

2. Two drunken adults who are somehow attracted to each other should not be in the same room at the same time, alone.

3. The most important one of all, she felt that he still loved her, and Kimberly was not going to change that.

Kat nodded her head in comprehension, and said, "Tommy, I love you, but…"

Tommy didn't want to hear a 'but' in that sentence so; he cut her off and added, "Kat, will you marry me?" It was the only thing he could think of to keep her by his side.

Kat's eyes widened at the question, and a smile crossed her face. Tommy felt his heart beat again at the smile he saw on Kat's face and he too couldn't help but smile.

"Tommy, are you sure? I mean, this is so sudden." Kat said, with hope in her voice.

"Kat, I love you. You're the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. Please Kat, please say 'yes'." Tommy pleaded.

Kat felt numb at her head and hands. She couldn't get anything out of her mouth at that time for several seconds.

Tommy was feeling a little disappointed at the thought that Katherine would say no, when all of a sudden, he heard "yes Tommy, I will marry you."

Kat flung her arms around Tommy's neck and kissed him over and over on the cheek. Tommy took in the kisses as well as his girlfriend. He wrapped his arms around her lower back, as he too kissed her.

* * *

Kimberly went to her apartment and sat down on her couch.

"Man, long day" she thought out loud.

She then heard a rumbling in her kitchen. She turned around but saw nothing. Getting up off of the couch, she hit her knee on the coffee table. "Ouch!" she yelled loud.

The rumbling then got a lot louder, and all of a sudden, Kimberly turned around and saw a huge mouse run across her kitchen tile. The mouse ran from the bottom of the table, to the back of the refrigerator.

"AHHH!" she shrieked.

After having enough of her weak situation with money, she decided to try to make Tommy fall in love with her to move in with him and have him take care of her.

She couldn't say what was to happen in the future, but one thing was for sure, she was not going to let anyone get in between her and Tommy.

Kimberly had gone to the Pan Global in Florida while she was attending High School by a private tutor.

Her tutor was about 35 years old. He was a stocky, balding, unattractive male. He was someone she wouldn't have dated, but Kimberly saw potential in him.

One night, after training her gymnastics, she went ahead and called her tutor to apologize for missing her studies that day. She really needed the training and was not about to let studying get in the way of her dream. He told her it was never too late to study, so Kimberly went ahead and drove to his office. He met her there and they began on their task.

As he was speaking, his huge words went through one of her ears and out the other. She couldn't help having such a short attention span. History was just not interesting to her, as well as all the other subjects he was trying to teach her. She instead took in his large vocabulary as a sign of intelligence.

She didn't know why, but her body at that time was getting very attracted to intellectual males. She had wondered if it was just a phase, but then again, she really needed to know.

They ended up making out the rest of the night, getting started by her of course. She was 17 at the time, but didn't care what consequences could arise. She started being young and in love with this man, who would treat her like a queen.

Kimberly decided it was time that she sent Tommy a letter telling him that she had met someone else. She couldn't bare to lie to her man's face anymore, telling him that she was single. She hated the fact of having a boyfriend far away; she just couldn't handle the pressure. Besides, she had stalled the letter a couple of times because Aisha would call her to tell her that Tommy couldn't get his eyes off of Katherine.

If it wasn't for her jealousy of Tommy being with another, she would've sent it a lot sooner than she did.

She won the Silver Medal at the Pan Global that year and continued her gymnastics for two more years. She was still with her tutor at that time, her lover, but he left her when she quit the games to be with him. She couldn't take the depression and gained thirty pounds on that. She was so depressed she didn't want to go back to gymnastics and just lay around doing nothing.

She had earned enough money to live work-free for a couple more years, but now, it was coming to an end. She didn't have that much money anymore. The only rational thing to do for her now, she thought, was take Tommy, the only guy that really loved her, as well as his money.

* * *

The next morning, Tommy awoke with Katherine in his arms. They had shared more than passion and lust last night; they shared their true feelings towards each other. By some reason, there was just something inside him that told him it was so right to be with her. Within himself he felt a sense of security. Not physical security, but emotional security. He knew he could tell her anything and not get judged in any way.

Katherine awoke at that time and looked up at Tommy. She smiled at him knowing that he loved her. He had in so many ways showed her the night before. It wasn't only the fact that he completely satisfied her every womanly need; it was simply because he didn't try to be her White Knight. That's what she loved about him. The times that so many guys wanted to be her Knight, she had just thrown them away. Yet Tommy was different. He didn't even have to try to be the Knight, but succeeded at the title any ways. It was as if she knew he would always be there for her whenever she needed him. In every sense of the word, and just couldn't help wanting to be there for him as well.

They both got up and got ready for work. Tommy was tired because of the events that happened the night before, yet still didn't know what to think as to Kimberly's words. He definitely didn't want to be back with her. It was just a one night thing, he thought she had known that, but in the back of his mind, completely understood what she was going through. He had felt the exact same way with Katherine after making love. He felt a sense to be with her and to shouting to the world that he had his one true love back in his life.

As they both got ready, they would give each other small glances from the corner of their eyes once they would pass by one another. A grin would crack here and there accompanied by a smile. Tommy wanted nothing more than to pick Katherine up in his arms and hug her so tightly while kissing every inch of her body. Katherine also was having the same thought of kissing every inch of his body, but in her mind, she and Tommy were on the bed.

* * *

They both headed to the school, arriving early this time. Katherine didn't know what to think when principle Randall called her into her office before her first class started.

"Ms. Hillard…" Elsa began.

"Oh, you can call me Kat." Katherine then stated.

Principle Randall continued, "Ms. Hillard, it has come to my attention that you went to the Royal Academy in London, is that correct?"

"Well, yes, but I only spent about two years there."

"Well, the Board of Education states that an 'Electives Teacher' must have their associate's degree in their field to assist. Ms. Hillard, what I'm getting at here is, we don't have a head teacher for our Dance Team here in Reefside. They have informed me that their looking for a teacher, seeing as you don't have the right element for that position, they have tried to make you the next best offer. Ms. Hillard, this school feels that you should be the assistant teacher her next year for the Lady Reefside Dance Squad."

Katherine was about to speak, when Randall cut in. "Well,…"

"Now, you don't have to make your decision now. Just know that the offer is on the table." At the end of her sentence the bell rang. "Well, better get moving to your class. Oh, and remember, 'a happy student is not paying attention.' Keep that in mind."

She dismissed Katherine out of her office. Kat left with a look of puzzlement on her face. She wanted the position, but it was just so long since she had danced, especially taught a class; she really didn't want to take the job. She loved dance more than anything in the world, but didn't know if she was quite there yet for the assignment given to her.


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 10 / What's going on?**

That afternoon, Tommy and Katherine arrived at Tommy's house. They got off of the car and headed towards the door. Tommy opened the door for her and she walked inside. He grabbed her hips tightly with his muscular hands. He, holding her hips entered the house as well.

Upon entering, Katherine stopped dead in her tracks with eyes wide open.

Tommy felt her halt and halted as well. He instantly dropped his hands from her hips as he witnessed the sight in front of them.

Kimberly stood nude in the middle of the living room with a bottle of whip cream in one hand, and chocolate syrup in the other. She looked as if she had been standing there for a while, just waiting for Tommy to arrive. She wore a smile on her face which was quickly smeared off at the sight of Katherine's figure standing in front of her. Kimberly was a bit thick around her hips, buttocks, lower belly, and had two saddle bags under her double A-sized breasts.

Katherine didn't know whether to leave, go to their bedroom, or just plainly get a cover and wrap it around Kim. Yet, she just stood there, frozen.

Tommy on the other hand swiftly went around Katherine and jogged a few steps towards Kimberly.

"Kim! What the hell are you doing here?" He demanded.

Kimberly made her infamous 'what do you mean' facial expression cocking her head to one side, wrinkling her eyebrows, and pouting a bit.

"I thought you were gonna get rid of her." She told him, making her eye sight towards Katherine.

Katherine couldn't take it anymore. She knew it was definitely not her place to say anything because this situation had to be dealt between Tommy and Kim. Yet her frustration in Tommy not taking the bull by the horns insisted in butting in.

"Look Tommy, you have to tell her something right now. If you don't, I'm leaving right now!" Katherine threatened.

Tommy looked at Katherine as if he had not known her for the longest time. His expression was much more than a puzzled one, it was a spoiled pout.

"Finally! You get the hint!" Kim retorted.

"No Kim! _You're _the one that has to get a damn hint around her. I love Katherine, and I'm going to marry her." He said in a sharp voice.

Kimberly upon hearing this gasped in awkwardness that even Katherine felt it hurt from the other side of the living room.

"Oh Tommy, can't you see she's only using you for her own good? Tommy please, I beg you, don't leave me out in the streets." Kim begged.

"You're out in the streets?" Tommy questioned.

"Yes, Tommy. Please, I have nowhere to go. Please let me stay with you." Kimberly started crying hysterically at this. "I only wanted to give you what I thought you needed in order to stay here with you."

Tommy took her into his arms and held her head onto his chest.

"Shhh, Kim, it's alright, I'll help you through this."

Tommy then let her go and turned his head around only to find Katherine with a look that he would never forget. She grabbed her purse and left the house.

Tommy quickly stepped toward the direction of the door, but was stopped by Kimberly.

"Tommy, please, isn't it obvious? She doesn't want to be with you." She told him.

He looked at Kimberly again, and said, "Look, I don't want to be with you. How many times do I have to tell you?"

He then turned and this time made his way out the door just in time to see Kat get in her car and turn on the ignition.

"Kat!" Tommy cried out.

He ran towards her car and made it just in time to catch her before she left.

"Kat, please, let's talk about this!" He screamed through the window.

Katherine felt her anger telling her to drive off of his property, but she also felt a force holding her back. She thought for a second, and Tommy heard the engine turn off.

She rolled her eyes, and asked after mechanically rolling down the window, "What do you want?" She said, with tears in her eyes. "Don't you have enough woman in there to keep you satisfied?"

Tommy crouched down to meet her at eye level and deepened his gaze towards her. "Katherine, believe me, I don't want anything to do with her, but I just can't leave her out in the street like that."

"Tommy, I understand" she said.

Tommy gave a look of relief and sighed. "Thanks Kat, I knew you would."

She continued, "And as much as I understand you having to feel that you need to take care of her, I also understand my feelings towards it."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"I'm not going to be able to trust you around her while she's living here. I probably won't be able to trust your judgment even after she's gone. I'm sorry Tommy, I can't marry you. I can't live with the idea of you choosing her over me."

Tommy couldn't tell her anything. Nothing came out of his mouth. He was scrambling for words inside his head so deeply. As much as he wanted to say how much he wanted her to stay, he knew he couldn't let Kimberly stay on the street, and there was just no good way in putting that into words.

With that, he saw Katherine's car make its way out of his driveway, and too far for his view. After not being able to see his love's car anymore, he slowly turned around, and headed inside his house with his head held low and slowly closed the door behind him.

Tommy walked into his house and curiously looked at Kimberly with fury in his eyes being hidden by shame. He then walked over to her where he was just a few inches away from her sitting down on the couch.

"Kimberly, how did you get inside my house?" was the only statement he could think of at the moment without having any precise tone in his voice.

Kimberly was quiet at the moment; she put her hands together on top of her mouth and giggled shyly.

"I took the key you had inside the frog outside. You know, the plastic one?"

"How did you…" Tommy wanted to know, although failed to continue his question when he realized it was he who had told her where the spare key was at the night they were both drunk.

Kimberly, noticing Tommy's expression, got up and still bare, got a blanket to cover herself with. She then pulled him down to the couch with great force to Tommy's surprise. She then straddled up on Tommy and tried to kiss him with passion.

Tommy, somehow knowing what she was going to do, moved his face away from hers and just dodged the kiss completely, having her kiss his right cheek.

"Kimberly, please, get off of me and we'll talk about this. I don't know how much you've been hurt just yet, but I swear, I'll try to help you." He said sincerely, before adding, "You really have to talk to someone about what's going on with you."

Kim just stared at him blankly, not knowing what to make of the statement she just finished hearing. She decided to take it into consideration much later. As for now, she just had to find out how Tommy's luscious lips tasted upon touching hers. She bent forward quickly catching him off guard this time and planted a huge wet kiss on Tommy.

At that instant, as if on cue, Kat came through the door saying, "Okay, I think I over reacted a bit but I honestly think…"

She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Kim straddled on top of Tommy still nude and her eyes burned with fury inside of them.

She just stood there, unmoving for a reason that was far too huge to handle. She couldn't feel a thing in her toes nor her knees. For a split second, she felt the hot boiling blood of her now slowly pumping veins rush to the top of her brain numbing it as well.

Heat overcame her body and she just couldn't stand there any longer, she thought. She could not let this happen to her when she was so close to leaving him. Now she had to deal with the pain of losing her fiancée for a split second she could have avoided if she had just continued to drive off in the direction she had driven before.

Tommy, from the ninety degree angle of his eye, could see someone enter. He forcefully turned his head around in the direction of the door. There, he saw Katherine standing, paralyzed somehow for what he couldn't make into words how to explain what she was witnessing.

_Oh my God!_ He thought.

"Kat" was the only thing that could come out of his now numb cottoned mouth.

Kimberly shrieked for an unknown reason, and just kept holding Tommy in her arms.

Tommy, now not knowing what to do, exactly, just picked Kim up and put her to his right side with struggle for she put up a small two second fight for him not to. He then stood and realized Katherine was no longer standing there, but was gone, maybe gone for good out of his life.

He ran after her, and caught her yet once again before getting inside her vehicle.

"Kat!" He called out.

Katherine, this time full of rage, turned around and completely took out all of her emotions she was feeling in that starting sentence with continuation.

"I can't believe you could do this to me, I thought you loved me, but now I see that you just can't decide between the two of us!" She said in frustration.

Tommy kept his calm, not wanting her to get rowdier than she already was.

"Kat, I made that decision the first week we started to date in High School." He said with honesty in his eyes.

Kat knew him better than anyone, even his mother. She knew he was saying the truth, but something inside her still kept poking at her medulla oblongata to keep yelling at him.

She shook her head a little, "why do you have to be the Goddamn hero of the story all the time?" She asked with sarcasm.

Tommy looked down, not with shame, but with disappointment in hearing her say that to him.

She continued none the less, "you think that everyone needs Tommy, right? Well, what about me? Did you even think for one split second how that was going to affect me in any way? You just went right on ahead and drew her even more into your arms. Tommy, having her and I in the same house? How could you even think of such a thing?"

He looked up at the end of her statement and spoke up to his defense, "you know, if it was anyone else in there with her problem, you wouldn't hesitate to help them. Why are you so uninterested to help her? Just cuz I dated her in High School?"

"You know it's not that." She said calmly this time.

"Oh bull! Even _you_ can't believe _that_ one." He said retorting this one.

Katherine thought for a split second, and said, changing her facial expression to Tommy's liking, "I guess I'm jealous that she's here." She said in a low voice.

Tommy couldn't believe what he just heard. He rolled his eyes and sighed in exaggeration. "What! You can't say that you're jealous of what's in that house, Kat!"

She was the one that looked down now and just stared at the floor blankly.

"Oh my God!" He said in disbelief, "you _do _feel jealous of her. I can't believe it, Kat! How many times have I told you that you're the woman I love?"

She was more than embarrassed at the comment. She knew he loved her, yet there was still a small thought that crept in the back of her mind. Was it uncertainty of the situation?

"I more than love you Kat," he continued, "I'm so in love with you, that every time I think of you for just one small microsecond, I feel a great sensation in my chest that makes me smile." He touched his chest with his right arm patting his chest slowly.

Katherine smiled internally at what she heard come out of his mouth.

He then walked over to her and wrapped his arms around the lumbar region of her back, and rested his hands on her butt. "Just think, that's just having the smallest thought of you, now imagine what I feel when I hold you."

She smiled now to where he could see.

He moved in closer, "when I feel you so close to me," he said before leaning his head and cocking it to one side adding, "And especially when I feel your soft, beautiful lips touch mine."

He kissed her passionately as Kat wrapped her arms on the thoracic region of his back and spread her fingers pressing him towards her. She returned his kiss with the same passion if not more to the striking things that Tommy had just told her.

They parted and smiled at each other. Tommy now saw her smile even more and showed her a prize winning smile as well.

She then looked deeply into his dark brown eyes and said the words that Tommy always loved to hear come out of this specific person, "I love you Tommy."

Kat looked down, not blankly, but shamefully now, "I'm sorry; I just can't seem to leave my jealousy on the side."

Tommy then got her chin with his pointer finger and thumb. He lifted her head up to meet him at eye level. "Kat," he said, "I know how you feel. In High School, Jason confessed to me that he liked you when he first saw you, but then backed off when he found out that you were Kat, the girl I had been talking to him about since I first set eyes on you."

Katherine's eyes widened at the remark that Jason would hold those feelings towards her. Although, she now knew that he _was_ looking at her in a way that was friendlier than average, at least her curiosity since then was now answered.

Tommy then looked at the ground and said, "I know how you feel, cuz even though its been years, I just can't seem to forget it. Now, every time I talk to him or something, I remember it, even if I try not to."

She nodded in comprehension in that he was reaching out to her once more.

"You know, but last time we went to their house and he picked you up like that, I have to admit, I was so jealous, and you weren't even with me then." He looked up at her.

She pressed her lips together reminiscing that hug as well, and in the back of her mind thinking that it _was_ a little too friendly, but decided not say anything just yet.

"You know what I realized though, that even if you're with him, even if he can't control himself with you, I know in my heart that you will. I know that because I trust you. I trust that you'll keep your distance in a friendship level, and not do anything to hurt me. Kat, I feel this way, because this is how I want you to feel about me. I want you to feel my loyalty towards you because I would never dream of hurting you like that."

She now felt it was her turn to talk, but couldn't think of anything to say. She looked around with her eyes as if the answer was going to be in the air somewhere. She then took a deep breath and said, "Tommy, I want you to know that you're the most wonderful man I've ever met…"

That was enough for him to hear, and he couldn't resist but take her into his arms and kissed her again.

When they parted, she laughed along side with him before she said with a smile on her face, "I guess I have to watch over you since Kimberly is going to stay here."

He looked at her with a sly look but then smiled and said, "You know, I'm going to need someone to pry me off of her." He said in a sarcastic tone.

Katherine then gasped with mockery and grabbed his side to tickle him. He jumped to one side crouching a bit at her touch. He then turned and ran towards the house with having Katherine chase him inside.

They both stopped their playing when they went inside and saw Kimberly lying on the floor unconscious in front of the couch.

"Oh my God." Katherine said in a low voice.

Tommy rushed over to Kim and knelt down. "Kim" he said, trying to get a reaction.

Katherine then thought fast running to the phone and dialed 9-1-1.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay guys, sorry for the long wait, but I updated it a bit. I hope you guys aren't mad with me. I'll have the next chap. up as soon as I can. 


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 11 / Kimberly**

**Reefside Hospital**

Kimberly still laid there in the hospital bed. Tommy and Kat were at the bed side when a nurse in royal blue scrubs entered the room.

She was of Asian descent; from the Philippines to be exact. She was about 5'6", light black hair, dark brown eyes, and with moderate dark skin. She spoke with an accent of a couple of years being in America.

"Hello" she started, "you've been here quite a while", she spoke to both of them.

Tommy, who was sitting on the bed at Kimberly's feet holding in his hand the control to the bed, TV, nurse, and lights, which had a thick white wire running from it, looked at her and said, "Yeah, we know, but we don't wanna leave until we know what's wrong with her."

The nurse just saw him with eyes of being delusional. She didn't mean to be rude, but it wasn't the first case she had seen where a guy would do anything in the world for the girl who was in the hospital bed.

She had even seen a case where a girl was committing suicide right there in the room because she said she was performing an act of sacrifice to bring back her father. After many strange cases, she didn't really want to deal with this one. Although it was a little after nine o'clock, she decided to let them stay a little longer; at least after her shift was over. She would then tell them that it was time to go. She knew she wouldn't get in trouble, the security guards did the same thing when they felt a family member needed more time with that person.

Katherine went over to Tommy, while the nurse prepped Kimberly for a blood sample she was sent to get.

"Tommy, are you gonna be alright?" She asked with concern in her voice.

Tommy looked up to meet her blue eyes, "yeah, I just wish I knew what was wrong with her."

Katherine didn't want to say anything else. She knew what he was feeling. Although she didn't feel so much love towards Kimberly at that moment, she couldn't help it feel bad for her. If she was feeling like that, she could just imagine how Tommy was feeling at that instant. Since she knew him better than anyone, she decided to just leave him alone with his thoughts so he can just cool off like any other situation they had been through.

Tommy was like her in a way. They both dealt with pain in much the same way. They would both hide their pain until the last drop of blood would come soaring through their cheek for lack of communication with another human being. At that point, one was just about to explode, but they both had their time in talking to another person about their feeling. Luckily, they had each other to lean on.

She then went to sit down on the visitor's chair and dug her head deep in its cushion.

The nurse was now circling a cotton swab on Kimberly's left arm. Katherine noticed her cleaning her spot in an outward circling motion. The tourniquet was wrapped around her upper arm to stop the blood flow and pop her veins up immensely. She placed her right pointer and middle finger together and tapped on Kimberly's vein. She then saw her air out the alcohol, and then with her left thumb, she pulled the skin down a bit. The nurse then proceeded in sticking in the needle while watching the needle's bevel go inside her patient. The tourniquet was then removed and Kat noticed her retrieving tube after tube of Kimberly's blood. She could count three, but they seemed like a lot more. The nurse then swiftly pulled out the needle and threw it inside a sharps-container.

"You know you infected her spot again." Katherine told the nurse after she was done with her patient.

The nurse turned around and asked, "What do you mean?"

Kat then responded in a tone, "After you had cleaned the area of penetration, you proceeded to place your fingers back on the clean spot. You clean it with alcohol for a reason. Even if you have gloves on, it doesn't mean you can go back and touch the area that will be penetrated. It could change results drastically on a patient's blood sample if 'God forbid' you had something on your glove."

The nurse nodded her head. She knew Katherine was right, so she went ahead and got more supplies, and retrieved Kim's blood from the other arm.

After she was done, she noticed her shift was over in about thirty minutes. She went ahead and gave them a warning of it being 'after hours' before she left the room.

Tommy, seeing the nurse had exited, went over to where Kat was sitting. He got the foot stool that was under the bed and placed it in front of Katherine. Tommy opened Kat's legs a bit and placed his in between before sitting on the foot stool to talk to her.

He began caressing her legs a bit while saying, "Wow, I didn't know you knew about blood drawls."

"I don't." She stated. "It's common sense when you think about it."

"Wait a minute; didn't you take like a health care class in High School or something?"

"It was 'Parenting', Tommy, and you were in that same class with me." She raised her voice a little at the end, not believing that Tommy, although being forgetful as he was, had completely forgotten about that.

"Oh, yeah, the baby right?" He asked.

"Is that the only thing you remember about that class?" She asked in disbelief.

"No, I do remember looking at you for the whole fifty minutes and not being able to get my eyes off of you." He said in a flirtatious way.

Katherine smiled at Tommy. He always did know the perfect timing for compliments, she had to admit.

Tommy felt her smile as a sign of joy in him, the first one in a couple of hours; he then leaned his head in towards hers and kissed her passionately. She returned the passionate kiss as well.

His hands made their way from her outer thighs to her inner thighs. He started to prance his fingers upwards but was stopped by her.

"Tommy, this is a hospital." She reminded him.

"And?" He asked.

"And?" She repeated. "Need I remind you this isn't the time nor the place."

"Oh, come on Kat, you heard her, we've got thirty minutes, remember, that's more than enough time for a quickie." He said, while making his way up her blouse.

Katherine thought about it, but then realized it wasn't the hospital that was drawing her back, it was Kimberly. She turned to look at her and saw Kim lying there. She somehow wasn't at peace. She wasn't gently sleeping for a reason Katherine couldn't put her finger on. She then thought about what people had said; that unconscious people could still hear what was going on in their surroundings. She didn't know if it was true or not, but she was in no position to find out.

She then pushed Tommy away from her gently and said, "Tommy, really, I don't think we should be doing this. Not in front of her. You have to have some respect for Kim, it doesn't matter how much she's hurt me _or_ you."

He looked deep into her eyes and realized that it was a sense of disrespect towards Kimberly. He didn't know what had gotten over him. He guessed it was the simple fact that he was so incredibly happy in being back with Katherine that he didn't quite realize where he was at that precise moment; especially who was at their side, lying unconscious in a hospital bed for reasons yet still unknown.

There wasn't much he could do at this point for her anymore. Tommy then told Katherine that they should get going before it gets too late. They both had to go to sleep early since they had work the next morning.

They started talking a bit longer after the conversation of leaving, when all of a sudden, the nurse that had been assisting Kimberly came into the room.

"Oh" she stated, "still here I see."

"Yeah," said Tommy, "We're about to leave, don't worry, we won't make any trouble for you."

He knew all too well that they could get her in trouble, so he decided instead to go on ahead and leave.

"Come on, Kat" he said with easiness.

Kat nodded her head and simply said, "Yeah", understanding why he was leaving.

Katherine went to Kimberly's side, and just simply felt sorry for her now. She didn't know what she was going through. Katherine was never one to judge, so she merely caressed Kimberly's soft brown hair and gave her a small kiss on her left cheek.

Tommy, witnessing this, noticed Kat's tears roll down her face. He was standing to her far left, but still could see with closeness that his girlfriend was crying. Not because of what happened between him and Kimberly, but for Kimberly was going through.

He had to admit, he started feeling a bit regretful at that point. He honestly thought that Katherine, in getting back home, or even there, was going to act differently. He hated thinking it, but he really thought she was going to act like a snob. In not letting him stay there so long, or asking him questions about Kim, or even whining that he was there for Kimberly.

All of that had gone through his head on the drive to the hospital. They followed the ambulance the whole way in silence. Tommy thought that Kat was quiet because she was upset. Now he knew. Now he knew his girlfriends true feelings about Kim. He knew he loved Kim, and he would do anything for her. Yet, he also knew he was in love with Katherine, and he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

Katherine turned to look at Tommy, wiping tears from her cheeks. He moved towards her with concern in his face. Katherine smiled at him and caressed his face. She cocked her head to one side while stepping to her left to let him pass. She shook her head gently in showing him to go towards Kim, instead of her.

Tommy obediently stepped about two feet towards the bed and looked down at Kimberly. She was as beautiful as he remembered. He somehow looked at her as a friend whom he cared for very much. There was no doubt in his mind that Kimberly was on something. He was going to do everything in his power to figure out what it is and help his dear friend.

Katherine turned to see Tommy looking at Kim with deep concern. She cared for her so much now. In a way, she hadn't seemed to believe that Kimberly was much of a drama queen. That led her to believe that Kimberly was having problems. She thought about their ranger days and how they became friends. She had to admit though, she didn't become as close with Kimberly nor Aisha as she was with Tanya, but none the less, she became her friend.

Katherine was one who never hesitated to help out another. She had enrolled in so many community projects in her life. She first did it to gain application references, but after her first community project, she was hooked. She became addicted to helping others, especially became very concerned about the future's doctors and lawyers; kids. Kat felt a sense of need to help out those who needed it.

Then and only then did it make sense about what Tommy had said. She went back to their argument they had in the afternoon. She never thought about it, but he was right. Why was Kimberly any different? Just because she's Tommy's ex doesn't mean she should turn her back on someone in need. With that, she saw Tommy's next actions.

Tommy then leaned down and kissed her where Kat had kissed her. He then turned and took Katherine's hand while they both left the hospital hand in hand, not saying a word to one another because each was in their own thoughts about how they can help their friend out.

* * *

Both Kat and Tommy were getting ready for bed. Katherine felt a bit silly about doing this, but she just had to say something. The uneasiness was getting the best of her.

"Tommy," she said, "is it safe here in Reefside?"

Katherine didn't want to go straight to the point. In one way she wanted to just blurt out that she wanted to stay with him. But on the other, she didn't know how he felt about that. She instead came out with a subject that will lead to her getting her answer.

"Yeah," he simply replied.

Katherine looked down as if disappointed. Then she heard the question she was aiming for.

"Why do you ask?"

"Well," she quickly started, "by getting an apartment and all, I really wanted to know if it was safe around town."

Tommy's eyes quickly widened.

"What!" He said. "Kat, I thought you were going to stay with me here, since I proposed to you and all. I mean, come on, we're gonna get married…"

"Okay, okay, don't hurt yourself." She said laughing. "We'll talk about this some other time." She said with lenience trying to sound as if she wanted an apartment still and was going to mention it later. She was smiling at him, yet inside she was jumping up and down hysterically in Tommy telling her that she was to stay there with him.

Tommy went inside the bathroom to take a shower. _I know if I take a shower right now, I'll just be quicker in the morning,_ he thought.

Katherine was in the bedroom. She had decided to take a shower in the guest bathroom since all of her bath stuff was in there any ways. She went over to the bed and laid down. She just started reminiscing about their High School years in Angel Grove. How Tommy and her would spend the night together if the parents of either weren't home. It was as if she could be taken away by so many memories she held with him.

At that, Tommy came out of the bathroom in some AC/DC pajama bottoms and a towel around his neck. Katherine looked up at him and turned over to her side. She noticed what a great body her fiancé had. She had seen his body before, but not with such a great angle.

Tommy went over to a chair in his room and hung the towel there. He then went over to the alarm clock and put the alarm at 6:00 am.

"I hope I don't put it to wake up at six in the afternoon", he said loudly so Katherine could hear him.

He felt a pillow hit him in the back as he was laughing and heard a "yeah, keep on laughing, Oliver" come out of his girlfriend.

He turned around and headed in the direction of the bed.

"I put it with that annoying buzzing sound. The radio just rocks me back to sleep." He said to Kat.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I see you don't do a good job at waking up."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, the alarm clock is at your desk. You have to get up to turn off the alarm."

"Yeah, it forces me in a way to not stay in bed." He said, while laying next to her kissing her on the forehead. "Mmm, your hair smells good."

"That's called shampoo and conditioner, you should try it some day", she said with a smile on her face.

Tommy mocked her at this, "ha, ha, ha," he said sarcastically, "need I tell you, I had great hair in High School, which should let you know I took great care of my hair." Tommy flung his head back in a feminine motion while closing his eyes and whisking a lock of invisible hair from him.

Katherine, seeing his actions couldn't help but laugh at what she was noticing.

"Dr. Oliver, Mr. Macho-Man, acting…FEMININE?" She said with a voice of disbelief.

"Yeah, well you know what they say, college changes people."

"Is that why you got rid of your hair?"

"Why, you don't like it?"

"I love it, now I can see your face in the wind." She said running her fingers through his hair in a loving way.

He smiled and kissed her on the lips.

Katherine moved towards him pressing her breasts on his chest. She kissed him lustily and ran her nails gently around his nipples and down to his abs.

Tommy at this, shuttered a little to his liking. He then remembered the events that had happened in the hospital.

"Oh, I see now you wanna do something", he told her slyly.

"Come on, it was a hospital."

"Oh, no, I've been rejected by you far too many times. I'm sorry Ms. Hillard, I just can't do this." He was speaking in an innocent voice and just trembling it purposely.

"Well, what if I want to make it up to you?"

His eyes became interested with her deal, "hmm, that might be something."

She started kissing him again while he circled his mouth around hers slipping in his tongue to meet her warm mouth.

He pulled away after that trying to play hard to get.

"Oh, no I can't Ms. Hillard" he said, "You're my teacher. I feel you're trying to seduce me."

Katherine thought about what he was saying and countered with, "EWW Tommy, that's gross. There's nothing more disgusting than a teacher and a teenage student. I'll role play with you, but not that."

Tommy laughed at her answer and said in between his laughter, "Okay, okay, sorry, didn't know you felt like that."

"Well, you should feel like that too, don't make me think wrong of you now."

"Oh, no, I would never get with a student. It's immoral, illegal, and above all just plain disturbing."

Katherine looked at him deeply to see if he was telling the truth, she then smiled at him and said, "Good, now we can get to sleep."

She turned around and covered herself with the blanket.

Tommy was watching her not knowing what to think.

She plopped herself down and smiled while doing this knowing Tommy wasn't seeing her facial expression.

"Umm," he started, "I thought we were going to…"

"Oh, no", she said, "feeling's gone."

Tommy opened his mouth and raised his eyebrows, "But Kat…" he sounded like a little boy at this.

Katherine laughed and turned to him, "all right. It's not like I don't want to either. So, you want to do something then?" She asked while moving towards him slowly.

Tommy kissed her and parted his lips from hers, "oh, and for the record, you never have to ask me that question again."

Katherine smiled at him. She kissed him again while he ran his hands all over her body.

* * *

The next morning, Tommy and Kat went to work. Katherine had decided to go to Randall's office to talk about the assistant teacher position.

She knocked at the door and heard a 'come in' from the other side. She walked in and saw Randall at her desk as usual with papers in front of her.

"Umm, Ms. Randall…"

"Ms. Hillard, back so soon. I thought I told you to come back later."

"Well, you did, but I decided that today was best."

"Okay," she sighed sarcastically as usual, hinting that she wanted Katherine to speed up the process, "what's your answer?"

"I've been thinking about it and I've come to the conclusion that it might be better to get a more experienced dancer."

"Okay, fine." Randall was not about to have more seconds of her life wasted on Kat. She dismissed her and Kat left the office feeling a sense of regret on her part.

_Maybe I should've taken it. I mean, what's the worst that can happen? Then again, I haven't been dancing for two years. I 'could' get back in shape. Oh, but by that time…who am I kidding? I'm too old already. It's not like I'm 20 anymore any ways._

She went thinking all the way to her class.

"Oh, Mrs. Foster, how are you?"

"I thought I told you to put some meat on them bones" Edna said.

"I know you did, but I'll try." Katherine said with a smile.

"Well, I just came by to say hello. So, hello."

"Hello. Oh, I didn't ask, how did the track meet go?" Katherine asked, remembering the last time she had seen Edna.

"It was great. Two of my students had scouts there; one from Reefside University and the other from UCLA."

"Wow, you must be proud. So did they take them?"

"One did, we lost, but it was my pride in knowing that my team did great. We ended up in second place in the district. Not too shabby if you ask me."

Katherine nodded her head in agreement. "I guess this school has a number of good athletes, huh?"

"Yup, we do. You should check out the summer games. They get pretty intense."

"Okay, maybe I will; as long as you're going, right?"

It was Edna who nodded this time saying, "Yes, wouldn't miss it for the world."

The bell rang, and Edna left Katherine to her teaching duties.

Katherine decided that after school she could go ahead and talk to Tommy about going to the hospital and visiting Kimberly; which she knew all too well he would immediately say yes to. _I wonder if we'll find out today what's wrong with Kimberly_,she thought. She went ahead and continued with her lesson of the day after all of her students had arrived.

* * *

**A/N: **I'm so sorry, so sorry, so sorry, so sorry. I know this one took me forever. I also know that not much went on either. I know we're at the same place as always, but I'm really really sorry that I made you guys wait so long. I'm coming up with two other stories, which hopefully you'll like. One is from my favorite PR time: Power Rangers Zeo. They're going to be in High School and I'm going to go back in time a bit. It'llexplain why Kat is where she is and why Tommy is where he is.I hope you guys aren't mad. And I really hope you liked this chapter.

You're probably thinking… 'this is what she had us waiting for?' Again, I'm sorry for that.


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 12 / An Addict and an Anorexic**

Katherine and Tommy arrived at the hospital twelve minutes after school had let out. They both knew it was mandatory to stay in the school premises for fifteen minutes and then be able to leave, but this was a very sentimental situation for both of them, especially Tommy.

While going towards Kimberly's room on the third floor, Katherine noticed Tommy's steps. They were three times faster and longer than hers were. She realized he was heated, aggravated, frustrated, and concerned for their friend's well being; a little too concerned.

Her feelings for him started coming in tact once more. She could not help an essence of jealousy rising upon her. The stench was making her nose hurt. She felt it go into her mouth and down the back of her esophagus making her gag with nausea. Heat fell on her and she felt as if the hallway was getting narrow as she walked. Darkness started to come in through the sides of her eyes. She saw the darkness escalate as it moved closer and closer to where only a small dot of light could be seen in the distance; her body shut down and hit the floor.

Tommy heard the fall and instantly turned around to find his girlfriend lying on the floor. He ran over to her and placed his hand on her back calling her name hoping she would respond. She was not moving; Tommy desperately wanted her to get up, wishing that she had just tripped and fallen. When she wouldn't respond, he knew all to well that Kat was not going to get up on her own.

"Could I get some help?" he yelled out even though he saw a nurse coming to her aide.

A male nurse, who was wearing sky blue scrubs leaned over to her and gently pushed Tommy away from Katherine. To Tommy's understanding, he moved out of the way so he could examine what the problem was. The nurse turned her around and placed his middle and pointer fingers under the right side of her chin, pressing into her neck lightly. He reached out with his right arm to a medical assistant to retrieve the syncope tube; but Katherine opened her eyes slowly in confusion. The nurse put the tube in his left pocket and asked Kat if she was alright.

Katherine nodded her head while saying "yeah, I'm alright." It sounded like more of a whisper than anything, but Tommy was just glad to have looked at those blue eyes instead of her eyelids closed.

The nurse gently helped Kat up, while the medical assistant brought an R Bed to him. He laid Kat down and asked her some questions about her state of being while taking her blood pressure. Tommy saw the sight with great anxiousness to just run over to Kat and hug her without letting her go at all.

The nurse applied a cool wet towel, which was provided by the MA on Katherine's forehead as he tilted the bed backwards so that her feet were above the level of her head in a trendelenburg position. The MA then asked Kat if she would prefer juice of cola because she noticed as the nurse was asking her questions, Kat had nothing to eat and was a bit pale; from the dehydration it probably caused the loss of consciousness so they needed to restore sugar in her blood system.

"Umm, juice is fine." She responded.

The MA then went to get the juice, while the other nurse went ahead and told her she was going to be alright, all she needs is to make sure she gets plenty of water and a good source of nutrition in her body. He sensed a lack of nutrition in her, but since he wasn't a doctor, he was in no right to give her any type of diagnosis; even if he did know that it was malnutrition.

Kat had been lying in the position for several minutes when the medical assistant came back with the juice. She went ahead and fixed the bed to be at an upright position while placing a medium sized cup in her hands and saying, "You should go see a doctor immediately. Unconsciousness could be caused by anything, but it's always better to know for sure what caused it."

Katherine nodded her head before taking a drink from the cup.

The MA then said, "I'm gonna go over and get back to work. Just sit there for a couple more minutes and if you're still feeling dizzy, I could get you more juice, okay?"

Katherine again nodded her head, this time with a small warm smile, "thanks, I really appreciate what you guys did."

"No problem." The MA said before heading over to join the nurse she was helping out.

Tommy went over to Kat with his head hung low. "Are you gonna be okay?" He asked, with a frown and a concerned look on his face.

Kat smiled at him, "yeah, I guess it was the heat or something", she said while shrugging her shoulders.

Kat didn't seem to make a big deal out of her fainting as much as Tommy did. He looked at her from head to toe and then again put his head down.

Kat knew him all too well to know that something was up with him. "Are _you_ alright though?" She asked chantingly.

Tommy smiled at her wittedly and said, "I guess I was just so concerned about Kim's wellbeing, I completely forgot about your little problem."

"What little problem?" She asked.

"Oh, come on Kat, you know. You still hardly eat. I guess I just didn't think it was that big of a deal until now. I mean, don't get me wrong, I haven't eaten much since Kim got here either, but you have like years ahead of me."

Kat looked at Tommy with confusion. "You know, I've eaten the same amount of food that I always have and I've never had a problem. It can't be because of my eating habits, Tommy."

"Kat…"

"No, don't think that you know what's going on. It's not because of my eating habit," she repeated, "and don't even think about giving me a speech about how important food is in the human body. Save it." Katherine got up and walked away.

Tommy turned to look in her direction, not knowing if he should leave her to cool down a bit. He then saw her make a left and go into Kimberly's room.

Tommy followed after that, repeating the events that happened in his head questioning them.

Tommy arrived at the room while a nurse spoke with Katherine about Kimberly's condition.

"The early phase is euphoria," the nurse said, "a feeling of well-being. There's a general arousal, although with some dizziness. An increased talkativeness is also a factor. Offsets fatigue and highter doses my exhibit a pattern of psychosis with confused and disoriented behavior, for example, delusions, hallucination, irritability, paranoia, or aggressiveness." The nurse looked over at Tommy as he went over to listen as well, "she had an increased heart rate and blood pressure. There was also and increase in body temperature, she had dilted pupils, nausea, and vomiting. Have any of you noticed any nervousness, restlessness, tremors, anxiety, irritability, or anything out of the ordinary in Kimberly's part?"

They both nodded their heads reminiscing the events that had happened not too long ago.

"Well, a chronic use may lead to personality changes, hyperactivity, psychosis, as I said before as well. Cocaine overdoses can be characterized by agitation, enhanced reflexes, and in your friend's case, unconsciousness caused by reparatory failures. She had a cardio respiratory arrest."

Both Tommy and Kat raise their eyebrows in surprise to Kimberly's diagnosis.

"It was a good think she came in when she did, the faster the absorption the more intense and rapid the high is and the stronger it hits her if a problem arises."

Tommy and Kat both nodded in understanding again. Kat couldn't do anything but bite her lip, while Tommy was still trying to get over the fact that someone he loved so dearly could have something like that happen to them.

It was Tommy who spoke up this time. "I thought that cocaine had a sign of loss of appetite?" He had to ask. Kimberly was in no way loosing appetite so it seemed.

The nurse nodded, "Yes, that is a sign, although as we are all very different with different metabolisms and different craniums, different drugs hit many people in different way. For example, weed would not do to me what it might do to you. In Kimberly's case, it didn't hit her weight loss as it may seem to do so."

Tommy just nodded his head and didn't say another word.

"So what can we do for her?" Kat asked.

"Well, what she needs right now is knowing that her friends are here for her. Don't judge her, and don't ask why, just sit, and listen if she wants to talk, but don't try to force anything out of her. She needs great support right now."

Katherine looked over at Kim and just wished she would get better.

_

* * *

_

A couple of hours in, Katherine was again sitting in the visitor's chair while Tommy sat on the stool the her side. He again had the control watching television, thanking God that the hospital had Cable. He was flipping the channels over and over again until Katherine put her hand on top of his making him stop flipping the channels.

"What?" He asked.

"You're driving me crazy." She said.

"Oh, so now you talk to me, and it's to tell me that I'm driving you crazy." He said with a tone after having Katherine ignore him for several hours after some attempts of trying to get her to speak to him.

"She's not the only one you're driving crazy."

They heard Kimberly and turned to see her with a huge smile crossing both their faces.

"Kimberly!" They said in unison.

Katherine instantly go up to hug her friend, "Oh my God! We were so worried about you!"

Kimberly took in the warm hug and smiled at her dear friend. "Thanks, I really appreciate having friends like you two."

Kat looked at Tommy still sitting on the stool. "So, are you just going to stare at her or give her a hug?"

Tommy still couldn't believe that Kim was okay. He then realized that he was still sitting down, and with a huge smile walked over to her and gave her a huge hug along with a kiss on the cheek.

"Man, am I happy that you're okay." He said with relief in his voice.

Kimberly just smiled. "I'm glad I woke up to have someone in the room this time. I really hate being alone."

"I know what you mean", Kat told her, not being able to hide her joy.

_

* * *

_

It took three days for Kimberly to recover in the hospital, but when she made her way home, she was received with open arms and so many kisses.

Tommy helped her up the steps as if she was fragile.

"You know Tommy, I can go ahead and walk by myself you know." She said chantingly.

"I know, I just don't want you to strain yourself."

Kimberly just shook her head laughing, "you know, you haven't changed one bit."

Tommy looked at her and smiled.

Kim stopped him before opening the door. "Tommy, there's something I wanna talk to you about."

"Yeah?"

"Well… the other day… I mean, well… last week, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess what I'm trying to say is… I'm sorry Tommy. I'm sorry for what I put you and Kat through."

Tommy understood, "Thanks Kim, that means a lot to me. I care about you a lot and I just don't wanna see you get hurt."

"Well, speaking of that, actually, I was talking to Katherine the other day, and I decided to check into a rehab center to cope with my problem." She looked down in a way of shame.

"Hey, don't feel down about it. You should hold your head up high. You're trying to beat this Kim. I'm proud of you."

She smiled at him as he took her into his arms and have her a huge bear hug. "I love you Kim, and I'm happy you're taking the right steps to beat this monster."

"Thanks Tommy, for all of your and Kat's help."

They parted and Tommy again smiled at her before opening the door.

_

* * *

Katherine waited patiently in the doctor's office after being there just a couple of days before for blood tests. She waited patiently because the sooner she knew what was wrong with her, the less time she had to be happy, she thought. _

The door opened and in walked the doctor. He wore a black suit under his lab coat which he removed upon entering the premises. Katherine turned to catch him taking off his stethoscope as well and hanging it on the coat rack.

She felt her nerves escalate while she took a deep breath in and waited for the doctor's diagnosis.

He went over to her and shook her hand, "Ms. Hillard, it's very nice to see you again."

Katherine smiled standing up and saying, "likewise, although, it must be in better circumstances."

"Yes, I do understand, go ahead and take a seat, many people just hate to see their doctor." He proceeded to sit down.

"Now, the test results are back from the lab and let me go ahead and show you what we've found." He opened the manila folder which carried her file. "Now, I found a high level of anemia in your blood. Now this is very serious Ms. Hillard, you see, the anemia, having been untreated, has grown."

Katherine's eyes just widened at the word 'grown'.

"This can lead to Leukemia Ms. Hillard."

"Cancer of the blood?" Katherine asked, although already knowing the definition.

The doctor avoided the question in a way and stated, "Now, I believe it hasn't gotten _that_ far. You see, I did find an excess of white blood cells in your stream. Which can mean cancer Ms. Hillard, but it could also mean that your body had produced extra white blood cells to fight the infection."

"What caused this?"

"Well, it can be caused by a number of things, but reading your record, Ms. Hillard, all signs point to the leading factor: Anorexia Nervosa."

Katherine gasped. She never thought it would get _that_ far.

"Now, you _are _at risk for an electrolyte imbalance. Which I'll prescribe pills to, but you'll have to come back for more blood draws; this time to see where the Leukemia is, or even if it's inside your body at all, okay. I don't want you to jump into conclusions. I'm also going to prescribe medication for the anemia and to slow it down, although I can't assure it'll go away as easily as the imbalance." He started writing in his prescription booklet. "Are you experiencing depression, Ms. Hillard?"

"Umm, not that I know of. I mean, I do feel down a lot, but I don't really think it's depression. I guess it's just because I haven't found my place yet."

"If you feel you need something for sentimental problems, please don't hesitate to ask." He tore off the pages with the prescriptions and handed it her. "You can go ahead and speak to the receptionist about the next appointment for the blood draws. I do also advise to eat plenty of fibrous foods to help the pills out with the anemia. Please Ms. Hillard, do everything in your power to get three well balanced meals a day with snacks in between. Since you are underweight, I'm going to go ahead and issue you a daily 2500 calories a day to gain your weight. When you hit the target weight that you're supposed to be, I'll go ahead and place you on a normal 2,000 calorie diet, okay?"

Katherine just nodded her head. She was speechless. Could she have cancer? She didn't know what to think up to that point. So many thoughts were crossing her mind, yet everyone of those thoughts had Tommy in them. He told her all this time that it was important for her to eat, yet she never listened to him. He has gone through too many problems right now to hear about hers. She decided to keep her thoughts and the doctor's visit to herself until she knew for sure what was going on. She didn't want Tommy to add to his agenda a new thing to get worried about at this time. She knew how to deal with it, just how she dealt with everything else, alone.

Katherine went ahead and thanked the doctor for everything, although in her mind thinking it was like thanking an officer for a ticket. She then went to the front office to schedule another appointment.

* * *

As Tommy and Kim entered the door, a swarm of friends went over to hug Kim her welcome backs. She was surprised and speechless to the party awaiting her. 

Kat had put everything together for her friend, wanting her to know that her friends were there to help her and to worry about anything she was worrying about.

Kimberly did nothing but smile and laugh as Jason came up to her and hugged her saying, "hey, welcome back stranger."

"Up for scuba diving?" she asked him.

"Oh, anytime." He said innocently.

Adam was behind Jason waiting his turn to hug his friend. Jason moved over after being poked by Adam on the side, "Ahem, aren't you gonna let me get a hold of her?" He asked in a joking way.

Kimberly laughed while opening her arms to him, "Hey, where's Tanya?" She asked while hugging Adam.

"Well, it's nice to see you too."

"Oh, I'm sorry Adam, how are you?"

"Fine, thanks."

"Now where's Tanya?" She asked trying to get a rise from him, in which she succeeded.

"She's in New York. She couldn't come, work you know."

"That's too bad, I would've loved to see her." Kim said honestly.

Rocky was standing behind Adam just waiting for his turn to hug her. "Well, I'm not going to poke you, although I would just as well push you to the side."

Adam turned to catch Rocky looking at him with a face of 'get out of the way' so he did just that, "alright, alright, keep your food in."

Everyone around them laughed as Rocky let the joke slide and went over to Kim to give her a warm hug. "Hey, it's good to see you again."

"Oh, it's good to see you again too. How's your back?"

"Well, it's not what it used to be, but it's alright."

Kim smiled as she looked at her surroundings. Her friends were back in her life even though if it was for just a couple of days. She then noticed Tommy walk over to four teens and a woman at the side who were obviously trying to stay out of the way.

"Kim," Tommy said, while taking her hand, "I don't think you've met my students and my partner in crime."

He led her to the group of new rangers, "this is Ethan, Conner, Kira, and Trent."

They all looked at her with smiles, "Hi" they all said in unison while shaking her hand one by one.

Tommy then looked over to Hayley and winked his eye while smiling, "this is Hayley, she helped me build everything that these three are now. She's the brains in the case, I'm just somewhat of a supervisor."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you Kimberly. We didn't have a good introduction at the fireworks show, but I'm sure we'll be able to get to know each other a little better." She told Kim as she stretched out her hand to meet Kim's with both wearing a smile on their faces.

"I sure hope I get to know all of you a little better."

At that, they heard the door open and Kat walked through it with a gloomy look in her eyes. They all looked at her with concern and questioning her frown.

* * *

**A/N: **I hope you guys liked this chapter. It somewhat starts moulding into place everything that's going to happen. Well, anyways, sorry for the delay, but please review. I honestly think that the lack of me writing is the lack of reviews I'm getting. I did notice that the more reviews I got, the more it motivated me to write. Well, just a thought. And thanx for reading. I hope you guys will read the next chap.


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 13 / Night Time**

As Katherine walked through the door and sensed those miens on her friend's faces, she instantly smiled warmly to have everyone smile back.

"Hi everyone", was the only thing she could think of to just relieve the silence that was making her feel immediately uncomfortable.

Tommy was the first to come to her after receiving a number of hellos in return.

"Hey, where were you all day?" He said, giving her a kiss on the lips.

Katherine looked down and cleared her throat, "Umm, I was at…the…umm," she hated lying. It wasn't the fact that she believed it was wrong; it was simply the fact that she just couldn't do it, "thinking", she finally said.

"About?"

"About me and what I'm going to do with my life."

"You forgot an important factor in your sentence, Kat." Tommy said, chantingly.

"Huh?"

"You said you were thinking about your life and what you're going to do with it. Kat, it's our life, and what _we_ are going to do with it." He held her hands and squeezed them in his palms while he smiled at her before giving her another kiss, this time a bit more intense than the first.

They parted to have the room 'awe' them. They looked around the room to have all eyes focused on them and they both simple smiled and turned to each other before laughing together.

* * *

The 'get together' was coming to an end. Old friends and new were now sitting around the living room speaking about old times. Old phrases would come up, new ones as well. The group talked about old laughs, and old sobs, excluding Tommy's new rangers. 

At this point, they were laughing while Adam was telling the story of his and Tanya's first date, and what a disaster it had turned out.

Tommy and Katherine were sitting cozily on the love seat. Kim was sitting in between Jason and Adam on the long couch. Trent was sitting on the recliner across from the love seat, having his arms wrapped around Kira's waist, who was sitting on top of him, reclining her back on his right side at ease. Conner and Ethan were both on the floor next to them. Ethan was sitting down 'indian' style while Conner was lying on his stomach to his right taking in the laughs. Rocky and Hayley were giving their backs to the TV across from the couch on two chairs provided by Tommy.

"…man, I'm telling you, if Tanya hadn't been so relaxed through the whole thing, I don't think we'd be together right now", Adam finished his story.

Everyone, including Tommy's students, who never met Tanya, were laughing uncontrollably.

"You know Adam," said Rocky, "I always knew you had a clumsy guy inside of you."

Everyone laughed even harder this time at Rocky's comment. Rocky looked across at Kimberly and smiled softly. Kim smiled back sweetly. They both were again looking into each other's eyes as they had been doing to whole day.

"I think we have to get going," broke their look as they turned to see Kira, "it's getting pretty late."

"Yeah, you're right" said Conner, "Ethan man, you need a ride?"

"You know it. Maybe we can look at the list and pick up some tree girls."

Conner laughed at Ethan's statement, having been the only one who understood it, "sure man, anytime."

"Aww, are you sure you guys can't stay a little longer?" Asked Kimberly in an innocent voice.

Trent shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, but Kira's dad doesn't like her being out too late."

Everyone nodded as if on cue.

The teens said their goodbyes and headed out the door. Ethan left with Conner in his red Mustang and Kira left with Trent in hissilver Suzuki motorcycle.

Tommy and Hayley walked in from having gone to walk their rangers outside to find Kimberly and Rocky sitting on the couch talking amongst each other. He looked around and couldn't find Jason nor Adam in his living room. He then heard a 'hee-yah!' from his lab.

When Hayley and Tommy both ran downstairs to the lab, they found Jason and Adam sparring in the middle. Tommy grinned and shook his head while the sight brought back old memories to him.

Hayley smiled and looked over at Tommy. "Looks like you have everything under control here. I better get going."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I have to open the Café tomorrow."

"Oh, okay, let me walk you to the door."

"That's fine, you don't have to."

"No, I want to."

"Alright, just because I know how stubborn you are."

Hayley said goodbye to Jason and Adam before going to the living room to say her goodbyes to Rocky and Kimberly.

As they arrived upstairs, Hayley asked, "Where's Kat? I haven't said goodbye to her."

Tommy looked around and noticed that he hadn't realized she wasn't there.

"Do you think she's upstairs?"

"Yeah, probably. Let me go get 'er."

"No, that's fine. I can go upstairs to say bye."

"Okay," said Tommy as Hayley walked over to the stairs to go to his room.

Upon arriving upstairs, Hayley noticed that Kat wasn't in Tommy's room. She went inside any ways and looked around to see the door to his bathroom closed. She went over and gently knocked on the door saying, "Katherine, it's Hayley." She heard a sniffle come from the bathroom and wondered why it sounded as if Katherine was crying.

"I'll be right out."

"Oh, okay." Again she heard a sniffle, somewhat louder this time and was sure that Kat was crying. She went over to sit on the bed to wait for Kat to come out.

It didn't take her long, as the door to the bathroom soon opened showing Katherine in a change of clothes. Instead of her work clothes, she wore blue plaid pajama pants and a white tank. Hayley then noticed her eyes weren't red at all as Kat smiled at her making her way over to the bed.

"Are you okay?" Hayley asked, taking Kat's place as the mothering type now.

Katherine gave her a puzzled look while sitting beside her and asked, "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh, nothing, I guess it's in my nature to ask. I do it automatically now." She lied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I sometimes ask people if they're alright just out of the blue."

They both laughed at each other's convenience before Hayley said, "Well, I came up her to tell you that I have to go. I have to wake up early tomorrow to do inventory before opening."

"Oh, well, I'll see you tomorrow then."

Kat gave Hayley a hug while she got one in return from Hayley.

They both walked downstairs to meet Tommy waiting for Hayley to walk her out to her car.

Tommy went ahead and walked Hayley outside to her black Chevy Trailblazer.

"I still can't get over your SUV, Hayley, it's awesome", said Tommy, admiring yet again Hayley's new wave of transportation.

"Thanks, although it still hurts to have let go of my KIA. You know, I really get attached to cars that I own."

"Hey, I hear ya'. I still can't let go of my jeep, no matter how much I try. After my truck blew up, this jeep has always been there for me. It's common for _anyone_ to get attached to their vehicle."

"Yeah, I know. I just hope I get used to this one as quickly as I got used to the other one."

"Hayley, driving _that_, trust me, _anyone_ would get used to it easily and quickly. Just drive it around for a day or two. I assure you, you'll get used to it. Hell, and if you don't…I don't know…maybe…I could take it?"

They both laughed at Tommy's comment. "Yeah, I'll be sure to keep that in mind," said Hayley, before getting in her car.

"So, see you at the Café tomorrow?" She asked.

"You know it. I'll take the others by there tomorrow.You wanna go someplace after you close down?"

"Sure, I'll see what I come up with so we can all go and have a good time. Do you know if you want the others to come too?"

"Who, you mean the kids?"

"Yeah"

"Well, I mean, if they want to. Then again, I don't think they'll want to spend a Saturday with their teacher and a couple of his friends."

"Ha, you'll be surprised, Tommy."

"Well, if they wanna come, then I don't see any problem with it. As long as we don't end up going to a bar or something."

"True"

"After all, I'd be a little worried about them if they wanted to go in the first place."

Hayley then remembered hearing Kat in the bathroom just a while ago. "Tommy, speaking about being worried about someone…"

"Yeah", he countered.

"Umm, well, I was just talking to Kat a while ago, and it seemed like if she'd been crying because she was sniffling. Yet, when she came out of the bathroom, she was fine."

"Okay, what are you getting at Hayley? Kat isn't into drugs."

"No, I'm just saying you should just…"

"Look Hayley, I know you're concerned about Kim and her problem. Kat's not Kim; she doesn't do cocaine."

"Alright, I'm sorry I brought it up, okay?" Hayley saw that it was useless talking to Tommy about something as delicate as that, so she just decided to drop the subject.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you like that Hayley, but…"

"It's alright, Tommy, I know how you feel about her, I'm sorry."

Tommy went over and gave Hayley a hugwhile she was holding the steering wheel. She let it go and hugged him as well.

"I just don't know what I'd do if Kat had any kind of problem, Hayley."

"I know, Tommy, and I'm sorry again."

"It's okay, really. I just over reacted I guess."

"Well, I better get going, it's really getting late now."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow, Hayley. I'm really sorry, okay?"

Hayley shook her head, "No, Tommy, I'm sorry. I should've known better."

Tommy smiled and went inside after saying his goodbyes to Hayley.

Inside, he didn't see any of his friends. He then heard loud laughing coming from inside his kitchen; he questioned what could be up, and went over to take a look.

Upon stepping into his kitchen, he saw Kim sitting down on a stool having her elbows on the tiled island in the center of his kitchen. Next to Kimberly was Rocky, to his left was Adam, and then Jason, finally, Kat. They were laughing for a reason that Tommy still didn't know why.

"Hey!" He heard everyone say in unison upon seeing their former leader.

"Hey, what's so funny?" He had to ask.

The friends all looked at each other and began laughing again hysterically.

"Man Tommy, you _are_ nosy." Said Jason, chantingly.

Tommy's eyebrows wrinkled while saying, "I'm not nosy, just…"

"…CURIOUS", everyone finished for him.

He smiled and looked around at his friends at knowing they were playing a small High School prank on him. He couldn't help get butterflies in his stomach at the sight he had in front of him. His friends were back in his life. They were all together yet again.

"So, who's up for a movie?" asked Rocky.

Everyone instantly said 'me'.

* * *

By the end of _Breakfast at Tiffany's_, which was a choice done by the girls, Rocky looked around at the scene around him. Jason and Kim were lying on the floor on too many pillows to count. Adam was on the recliner half asleep. Tommy and Kat were on the love seat completely knocked out, and he was lying on the long couch ready for bed himself. 

He got up and went over to Tommy, knowing that he would tell them where they would sleep. He, on the way, thought how grateful he was for changing into their pajamas before the movie started.

"Yo, Tommy, wake up." He shook him gently.

Tommy awoke, still half asleep, and looked around as if asking himself where he was.

"Yeah, Rocko?"

"Um," Rocky was in no way shy about anything, "where are we gonna sleep, man?"

"Oh, sorry about that. Um," He was still a little out of it, "I have two extra rooms and a study."

"A study?"

"It has a pull-out."

"Oh"

"I guess two of you will have to sleep together." He motioned towards Kimberly which he was shot at with a look.

He laughed at this while Adam began to pick things up.

"Adam, you don't have to do that man. We can do it tomorrow. Let's get some sleep."

Adam obeyed, being in no mood to argue with a stubborn man like Tommy. "Okay", he simply put the bowls down, and headed back to the recliner.

At that, Tommy got up, waking Katherine in the process. She wiped her mouth, fearing saliva had come out while sleeping, but was relieved when she felt nothing.

Tommy then went over to get some blankets from the hall closet, while everyone in the living room was debating about where they were going to sleep.

"Okay, I think_I_ should get a bedroom. That said, I'll see you guys tomorrow." Kimberly said, instantly going upstairs to grab an empty bedroom.

The guys just looked at each other without saying a word to her. They knew they were here for her, but above all, she _was_ the only female to not have a bed, so they went ahead and said nothing about it.

Yet, for them, was going to be a different story. No one wanted to sleep on the pull-out, yet they didn't feel that sleeping together was an option either.

"Look, we'll shoot for it, alright," Jason finally stated.

The winner would get the bed, and the other two would shoot for the pull-out after that. The other would have to sleep on the couch downstairs.

They would play _Rock, Paper, Scissors_.

Jason picked rock, while both Adam and Rocky picked paper. They both jumped with excitement at their win. Jason then turned around and made a run towards the bedroom.

Rocky and Adam instantly knew what Jason was doing and ran towards him.

Adam was the first to jump on his back and slow him down, while Rocky pulled them both back.

Katherine at the sight had sat down on the couch raving with laughter at the guys.

They started to wrestle on the floor.

Adam and Rocky pinned Jason down and waited for Jason to say 'mercy' for them to let him go.

Instead, he said, "Alright, I give up! CHEATERS!"

"CHEATERS?", the two asked in unison.

"Yeah, it's two against one."

Kat was next to speak, and did so in between laughter, "You know Jason,...the guys wouldn't...have had to pin you...if...you hadn't of...made a run to the stairs", again she broke out in laughter.

The three then laughed at what they had realized on how they must have looked like. Fighting over a bed _was_ pretty silly, but still, it was worth it.

Jason surrendered, wanting to go to sleep when Tommy came back with a bundle of covers and pillows, signaling to Kat that she didn't help him out.

She shrugged her shoulders in innocence of not even having thought about helping him while Jason went over to give him a hand.

Adam and Rocky went at it again. This time, Rocky went with paper again while Adam went with scissors.

Rocky didn't put too much of a fight, since he _was_ very sleepy, so he just decided to take some covers and go to Tommy's study.

Tommy followed him into the study and pulled out the couch for Rocky. Rocky helped him some, and as soon as it was layed out and ready, he layed down on the pull-out and thanked Tommy for everything.

As Tommy was making his way downstairs, he noticed Kat talking to Jason where the boys had been wrestling. He shook his head with dissapointment at what he saw.

He sighed heavily and was heard and seen by Kat.

"Hey," she said, "what's wrong with you?"

He looked at her and simply said "Nothing." Before adding, "Where'd Adam go? To sleep already?"

They both nodded and Tommy went over to fix the couch for Jason, knowing that he had lost the bet on his way back with he blankets.

Tommy then had a face that would kill a crow, but Jason didn't notice. He was too busy looking through his bags.

Katherine on the other hand _did_ see him. She questioned why in her head, yet decided not to say anything about it just yet.

When Jason was settled in, both Kat and Tommy went upstairs to Tommy's bedroom.

As they entered, Tommy went inside the bathroom, still with that same mad face.

Katherine decided to talk to him about it once he came out. She then went over to the bed and settled herself in.

When Tommy finally came out, he noticed Kat under the covers, sitting down, reclining her back on the headboard, having her arms crossed in front of her chest.

"Oh," he said, before sarcastically continuing, "I see you got into bed. I thought I was going to have to pick you up and lay you down myself."

Kat at this picked up the tone and responded, "So, this is what it's about. Just because I didn't help you with the blankets."

"It's not just that," he said, while going over and getting into bed himself, "you didn't help me with the blankets, the chairs, the pillows, the pull-out, _or_ the freaking couch."

"I was talking to Jason and saying goodnight to Adam." She said in her defense.

"You could've have done that while fixing the couch for Jason. I did it with Rocky. And even _he_ helped out, and he doesn't even live here."

Katherine at that instantly got offended, "Oh! So just because I'm living here, I'm automatically supposed to be your maid? I'm sorry, I guess it was my misunderstanding, I didn't know I had to pay to live here." Now it was her talking sarcastically.

"Kat, it's not that,..."

"You just said he doesn't even live here and he helped you out, tell me Thomas, what am I supposed to think?"

"Nothing, just that..."

"Oh, so now it's nothing."

"Kat, listen to me, okay? All I'm saying is that I'd like for you to act as if you lived here too."

"What do you mean?" She asked questiongly.

"Well, when we were in High School and that big storm kept me and Jason inside your house and your mom said it was okay for us to stay; you got the covers for us, and the pillows. You and Tanya even layed them out for us to sleep on."

"What are you getting to?"

"Kat, what I'm getting to here is, since you already own my heart, I want you to feel like an owner of this house too."

"So, _that's_ what this is about? You don't think I feel completely in yet?"

"Do you?"

She paused for a minute to think. She then realized that she _didn't_ feel completely in, and even that, she really wasn't acting like much of a resident, either.

"Well, do you blame me?" She finally answered."My stuff is still in the storage since we took it there last time. Nothing in this house reflects how I live. My belongings are missing, to tell you the truth, I don't. I don't feel like I live here, Tommy, it feels as if this house still isn't a part of me."

"It can be."

"No, I just think..."

"Kat, what can I do to make you see differently?"

"Just give me time...please."

Tommy just nodded, before receiving a tender kiss goodnight from her.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I finished this one. I'm pretty sure that the next chapter will be my last. Well, see you soon...I hope.


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind._

**Blooming**

**Chapter 14 / A Proper Proposal II**

"Okay, who are you trying to fool, Trent? Like if my folks are strict…"

"Hey, I didn't know what else to say. I don't think quickly on my feet I guess."

Trent and Kira were now in Trent's room looking at what seemed to be a large piece of thin drawing paper which was rolled up on both sides.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think you need a better sketch" she said.

"Hey, it's the best I could do with what little time I had."

"Then why are you asking if you're just going to whine about what I think."

"Well, being my girlfriend and all, I'd think you would at least lie to me."

Kira saw a tender face looking at her now and couldn't help but smile at him.

"Okay, it's great. Best work you've ever done."

"Oh no, I've been insulted by you before" he said closing his eyes and exaggerating emotional pain.

"Oh come on…I'll make it up to you…"

"Oh really?" he anticipated with interest, "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

"Like this" she said pulling him close to her and giving him a passionate yet tender kiss on the lips, which he countered with the same heat.

As they both broke apart, Trent opened his eyes to meet her beautiful brown ones gazing at him.

"Wow" was the only thing that could be said from his part.

At that, a knock was heard at the door.

"It's open" Trent said.

"I don't know, are you descent?" came from the other side.

Conner walked in with two pizzas and behind him Ethan walked in laughing holding a six pack of Pepsi in one hand and in the other a large bag of Doritos.

"Alright, the food!" said Kira.

"I thought you were vegetarian?" asked Conner before adding, "this pizza is meat lover's and the other is ham with pineapple" he said gesturing at the two pizzas he placed on Trent's work table.

"Who said I was a vegetarian?" she asked.

"Well, I could answer that" began Ethan, "you see, you're going to become a famous singer right? So, as doing so, you're going to have to follow in famous people's footsteps…"

"Which means you're going to have to give up anything that tastes good to stay a certain physical shape, or the media and press will kill you" finished Conner.

"Tofu?" asked Trent.

Kira just looked at the guys with shock on her face.

They all instantly began to laugh hysterically at her reaction before each getting a medium hard punch in their direction.

"You guys suck! I have to get me some girlfriends" she said as she turned heading towards the pizzas.

"Ooh, can I watch?" asked Conner jokingly.

Kira turned around and gave him a look.

"Never mind" he said before turning to Ethan and Trent asking, "so, anyone want some pizza?" instantly changing the conversation after sticking his foot in his mouth for yet the umpteenth time.

* * *

The next morning, Kimberly was up before anyone else; or so she thought. She was feeling a little sleepy still, but knew that a shower was the only way she was going to fully wake up. She gathered her things and headed towards the bathroom. Upon entering it, she noticed a mirror to her instant right and examined herself in it. She didn't like what she saw. It was obvious to her that she had gained too much weight in her depression and breakdown, yet didn't know quite what to do about it. As she removed her clothing piece by piece, she noticed knew body parts that needed work. The first thing that came to her head was gastric bypass surgery, but shook that thought out quickly. Next, she thought about liposuction. _When in the hell did I become so quick to take the easy way out?_, she finished her thought about that quickly as well. It was when she was getting into the warm water that she got the idea she was looking for; not to mention it was more like her personality than anything.

After her shower, she went downstairs to see if anyone was awake at this point. She noticed her friend still sleeping on the couch, and silently went into the kitchen to get breakfast. She decided to cook breakfast for everyone in the house as she was in the process of cooking for herself.

A creek came from the front door which made her instincts as an ex-Power Ranger kick in swiftly. Kimberly quickly put the eggs down gently on the counter and went to see who was opening the door.

In the living room, she noticed a panting, sweaty, red-faced Kat walking past the couch at this point in spandex shorts with a sports bra for a top and running shoes.

"Um, you're up early" Kat said quietly as she saw Kim come into the living room.

"Yeah, I'm just fixing breakfast for you guys" she countered quietly as well, not wanting to wake Jason up.

"Oh, what are you cooking? It smells good."

"I'm making scrambled eggs with sausage, cheese, tomato, and onion; and buttered toast, hash browns, with orange juice on the side."

"Mmm" Kat lied an expression of likeness.

"Yeah, I'm with Kat on this one. That sounds delicious" came a voice from the couch.

Both girls looked down at Jason who had been listening in the whole time.

"And here we are not trying to wake you up" said Kim.

Katherine just laughed along with Jason while saying, "I'll be right down… to help you after I take a shower, okay?" She said before taking a deep breath and making herself up the stairs, yet couldn't help but feel like gagging at the thought of so much fattening food going inside her body. She hated the thought of so much oil being used to make this breakfast, not to mention the butter on the bread.

She went inside _her_ room and saw that Tommy was still fast asleep. She went over to him and got a bandana which was on his nightstand from two days ago. She got it from the middle and pulled down on it until there was about an inch of bandana left on her right hand and most of it was on her left. She bent over a bit and with the tip, passed it on top of his nostrils smoothly making him move his head to his left a bit. She laughed a little at this, yet continued to play with him still. Kat then passed the tip of the bandana yet again over his nose, this time less softly. Tommy jerked his head to both sides as Kat continued to pass the tip over his nose over and over again until he opened his eyes annoyed at what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" he asked still half asleep.

She couldn't hold in the chuckles and continued to laugh, yet this time the laughter came louder.

"It's about time you woke up" she said.

Upon seeing her attire he sighed heavily, "Don't tell me you want me to go run with you again, cuz if that's what you woke me up for, then…"

"Oh be quiet. That's not why I woke you up. Kimberly's in the kitchen making breakfast, so wake your butt up." She told him patting his chest gently.

"Oh, it's awake, and someone else is awake now too" he said grabbing her by her hips and pulling her on top of him.

Kat shrieked a bit before laughing at him.

"I feel like I just got grabbed by the Hulk" she said jokingly.

"Hulk smash!" Tommy yelled while spanking her butt and grabbing it tightly.

Kat continued to laugh but remembered Rocky and Adam still being upstairs.

"Shh" she said putting her index finger over his lips, "Rocky and Adam are still asleep."

"Hey, you woke me up, why not them?"

"Because, I actually _like them_" she said.

Tommy gave her a look before saying, "What was that?"

Katherine shrieked as he started to tickle her while getting away with no success.

"You know, you act like a child sometimes" she said while he stopped tickling her.

"Well I have to. Until there is a real child in this house, you're gonna have to put up with me."

"Let's just hope that isn't for a while."

"Why?"

"Well, there's still a lot I want to do before having a child."

"But there's a lot you can do after as well."

"Yes, but it's just not the same."

"Kat, are you saying you don't want a baby?"

"No, not at the moment."

"But I thought it wasn't a problem for you."

"It's not, it's just that right now, it is."

"So you admit that it _is_ a problem."

"Well, it won't be if it happens."

"Then, you're not protecting yourself, cuz I'm sure as hell am not."

"I am"

"What?"

"I'm taking contraceptives; I thought you knew."

"No, I didn't…So all this time we've been having sex for nothing?"

"Well, sorry to disappoint you" she said in a sarcastic tone.

"No, I don't mean it like that. It's just that I think we should talk about it."

"We are talking about it, and I said that I'm not ready."

"Oh, so now it's your decision?"

"No, it's both of ours."

"You're not making it out to be _our_ decision."

"Look, if I wanted a baby, and you wanted to wait, I'd respect your decision to wait."

"But it's not like that."

"No it's not, that's why _you_ don't like it."

"It's not that I don't like it, it's just that I want to know why."

"I just told you why."

"I need a better answer than 'I want to do things in life'"

"Well, I'm sorry if it doesn't fit in to your liking, but that's my reason."

"But things like what?"

"Like dancing, diving, surfing, rock climbing, bungee jumping…"

"Alright, alright, you don't have to go _that_ far off and get all technical about it."

"Well, that's what I want to do."

"You can still do all those things after having babies, Kat."

"Whoa! When did a baby become into babies?"

"You mean you only want to have one?" He asked with shock in his voice.

"Well, how many do _you _want?"

"Four, the least."

"Four?" she asked with a yell.

"Why are you so surprised? You know I like kids."

"Well yeah, but…"

"Kat, why just one?"

"How 'bout I meet you in the middle and give you two?"

"When?"

"Much later."

"Here we go again."

"You're the one that brought it up again."

"Well, I like kids, and I want a lot."

"Oh stop being such a hypocrite!" she said while getting off of him and rolling to her left side to be on the right side of the bed while still wanting to talk about the issue at hand.

"Hypocrite?"

"Yeah, I called you a hypocrite, quick, call the police!"

"Why hypocrite?"

"You weren't too fond of Justin when he became a Power Ranger."

"I was being protective of him."

"Oh come on. What did you tell me on the deck?"

"That I was worried for the kid."

"Yeah right! You asked 'why did Rocky send a puny little scrawny kid to take over?'"

"I did not!"

"Oh, am I lying?"

"I don't know…you should _know_…liar!"

She gasped before yelling, "How dare you insult me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry Mrs. 'I want to dance before having a child', here in America it's not that big of a deal."

"Well first of all, it's Ms., and second of all, over there in Australia it is."

"Well, why don't you go down under and fix the problem" he said before drastically changing his voice from sarcastic to smooth in saying, "no, really, go down under" he continued motioning towards his penis, "come on, have some breakfast."

"Well" she said, although at this point she just wanted to change the subject completely so she drastically changed her mood as well, "breakfast _is_ the most important meal of the day."

* * *

"Hey" said Tommy with a huge smile crossing his face as he went into the kitchen which smelled like heaven to him.

"Hey" said Kim, "I hope you like what I made."

"Oh, I'm sure we will."

Jason was already eating along with Adam and Rocky as well.

Tommy went over and got the plate which was handed to him by Kim.

"Thanks" he said before going over to the table to sit down. "Kat told me she was going to help you, but I held her up a bit…I hope you didn't mind," he said as he put a forkful of eggs in his mouth.

"Oh, it's okay. It wasn't all that much any ways" Kim said, while going over with a plate of food and taking a seat as well.

"Um, Hulk, could you pass me the salt?" asked Rocky motioning to Tommy.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the green one here," said Adam before both of them started laughing hysterically.

Tommy knew all too well at what they were laughing at and instantly got red.

"Hulk smash!" Jason joined in by getting the salt shaker and putting down loudly in front of Rocky proving he had been told about Tommy and Kat's little talk in bed.

Tommy couldn't help but laugh at them as they were making fun of him. It embarrassed him; yes, but he knew all too well that these days weren't going to last very long, so he wanted to make the most out of having his friends there.


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. Oh, and I'll be using a famous line from the movie, 'American Pie'._

**Blooming**

**Chapter 15 / A Proper Proposal III**

As everyone was in the living room, Katherine came downstairs hurriedly wearing a tight white t-shirt, blue jeans, white sneakers, and her white Tote bag on her right shoulder.

Kimberly, from the loveseat saw her from her peripheral vision and turned to her left to find out why she hadn't come down for breakfast with them.

"Hey" she started, "why didn't you have breakfast with us?" she asked in a very innocent, sweet voice.

"Oh, actually, I was, but I got held up by someone" Kat said as she went over to the couch behind Tommy and smacked him on the back of the head.

"Hey, I told her I was sorry" he said in his defense while grabbing the back of his head and rubbing it as if it hurt.

"And where do you think _you're_ going?" asked a very stern Jason from the loveseat as well.

"Yeah, why do you have that beach Hefty bag with you?" asked Rocky jokingly as he was sitting to Tommy's right.

Adam was on the recliner not saying anything to insult anybody as usual.

"Well, first of all, it's not a beach Hefty bag, it's a Tote bag" Kat said as she didn't have to reach far to grab the back of Rocky's hair and pull it upward for making fun of her purse before him yelled in agony, "And second of all, I'm going to the doctor."

"Why, are you sick?" asked Tommy quickly.

"No, I just need birth control, so I'm going to the clinic to get a prescription really quick and maybe a physical too."

"But it's Saturday, the clinic is open?" asked Adam, breaking his silence.

"Yeah, until twelve" she responded.

Everyone nodded their understanding.

"Well, you don't want anybody to go with you?" asked Kimberly getting up from the loveseat.

"No" said Kat, making Kim look up at her before sitting back down, "I'll…actually be out most of the day probably…I have to go check out the new dance school some students were talking about. They need a new teacher, and I'll probably volunteer" she lied. She _was_ going to check out a new dance school, but it was until Monday.

"Oh, okay" Kim said.

Before Kat could reach the door, Tommy spoke to her making her turn around and exaggeratingly looking annoyed at him.

"Don't forget that we're having lunch at Hayley's okay?"

"Fine" she said in an agitated voice before opening the door and heading out.

"Jesus Christ man, what did you do to her?" asked a still sore Rocky, rubbing the back of his upper neck.

"Beats me" answered Tommy.

"Maybe it's just PMS or something" thought Jason out loud.

"Yeah, Tanya always gets like that around that time of the month, you know" Adam put his two cents in.

Kimberly looked at the guys around her and shook her head saying, "I can't believe you. Just because a girl is in a bad mood, doesn't mean she's on her period. I honestly would think that you guys would outgrow that, but I can see that you haven't."

"Outgrow what?" questioned Jason.

"That! The whole, 'oh she's in a mood, man, she's probably PMSing'", Kim said in a deep voice trying to resemble a man's yet failing at it.

"What? We don't say that!" defended Tommy.

"Oh my Gosh! What did you guys just say right now? I bet you Kat is not menstruating right now and here you are saying that she is. It proves my point exactly!"

"That's because she's acting out of the ordinary" he continued.

"Yeah, when girls act differently than they should, it means they are getting, or probably are on their period" added Rocky.

"Oh, in that case, my grandmother just started going to pottery classes, I better go get her a pad!" finished Kim.

The guys just laughed at what Kimberly had just said and changed the subject to lighten the mood.

* * *

Katherine had deliberately stayed upstairs for what seemed like an eternity to her to miss breakfast. She decided to go to Hayley's Cyberspace instead, knowing that Hayley had already opened the Café an hour ago.

She took a deep breath before heading inside the Café with a smile as soon as she saw Hayley.

"Hey!" she said in a lying cheering mood.

"Hey, you're here early" said Hayley.

"Yeah, actually, I came to have breakfast" Kat said while going over to the bar where Hayley was now heading to.

"Oh yeah, well, what will it be?"

"Umm," Kat went over and reclined herself forward on the bar placing her arms on the counter and checking the menu on the upper wall, "How 'bout…half a bagel, a bowl of mixed fruit, and…water", she finished her order.

"Alright, one breakfast of champions coming up" she said as she jotted Kat's order down on a paper and turned to place it on the counter behind her where the cook got it and started on it.

"Isn't that Wheaties?" questioned Kat.

"Well, yeah, but this is literal" Hayley then said.

"Oh."

"So, what brings you here to have breakfast, Tommy cooked again?"

The two girls laughed before Kat put her head down a bit as she sat down on the stool.

"Actually" she began, "it was Kimberly."

"Why, what she do?"

"Breakfast"

"Oh… and?"

"And…it was a little…how do I put it?"

"Nasty?"

"No…more like…unhealthy really."

"Oh, and you're not into that I see."

"Well, it's not that, I just can't find myself eating that kind of food you know."

"Yeah, I remember when I suffered a battle with Bulimia. It was horrible…at least it wasn't a war" she said, turning around as she heard the bell that Kat's order was ready.

Kat instantly became interested in the conversation now.

"So, what happened?" she asked as she retrieved the order from Hayley.

"Well, I remember not wanting any help. You know denial; gets the best of us."

"So, then what did you do?"

"Well, then I thought about it and I finally went to the doctor. Okay, Okay, I was forced to go to the doctor by my parents. I was sixteen at the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he diagnosed me having anemia, then he wanted to do a leukocyte test on me and it came out negative, thank God."

"Wow"

"Yeah, so then he just said that if I didn't start eating well that I would get leukemia and it would eventually lead to cancer. Not to mention my teeth would have gotten all brown from all the stomach acid forcefully coming out of my mouth."

Kat's eyes widened as she took a bite of her bagel.

Hayley continued, "You know Kat, I may not think to be a genius, but I _am_ known to know everything."

Katherine looked down, still chewing, not wanting to look at Hayley in the eyes.

"Look, I heard you sniffling in the bathroom. What's going on?"

"Well" Kat began after swallowing the chewed bagel and some water, "I was…bleeding" Kat said as her eyes got a bit watery.

"Oh my God, Kat; from where?"

"My nose"

"Are you…?"

"Anorexic" Kat finished for her.

Hayley nodded making Kat realize that she already knew the answer to that.

"The doctor diagnosed me a couple of days ago. I'm going to the clinic today."

"It's Satur…"

"Saturday, I know" Kat cut in knowing what was coming next, "the doctor's not in, but the lab is open today. It's on Thursdays and Saturdays. They didn't have any open spots for Thursday so I had to get my appointment on Saturday."

"Oh…"

"He wants to test me for leukemia" Kat said with her voice a little shaky but still strong.

"And do you think you have it?"

"Well, I don't know"

"You have to know, Kat. No one knows your body better than you do."

"Before he even said anything about it, I was clueless. Then I got really worried, and that's when the bleeding started; maybe I do have it, or else my nose wouldn't be bleeding."

"Kat, just because your nose is bleeding doesn't mean you have cancer. I mean, it could be for a number of reasons. You're out in the sun a lot, drinking too much, picking your nose" Hayley said trying to make Kat laugh which she succeeded at, "and the most important one of all…"

"What's that?"

"You're worried about it. Many people bleed from their nose if they get nervous, or worried, even people who are lying. They could get nose bleeds too. Your body is just telling you that you're worried."

"I don't know Hayley…"

"Look, like if someone thinks their pregnant. They are so worried about it that they miss their period when it has to come, even if they're a clock. They get all paranoid for days before taking the test. And they get so shaken up that their period seems to pause even more. After they take the test and find out they're either pregnant or not, they get their period. Just know that if you say it is; it is. And if you say it's not; it's not."

"What does that suppose to mean?"

"That if you read into symptoms about something, you get yourself so worked up about them that you end up believing that you have them and your body starts reacting to it."

Katherine started changing her perspective at her illness at this point.

"One doesn't know how powerful their mind is until it starts making your body do what it wants to. But only you could control it."

"Well, I never looked at it that way" Kat said before again putting a spoonful of mixed fruit into her mouth.

"Hey, I remember… 'this one time at band camp'…" Haley began before laughing along with Katherine at the joke of quoting a famous line from the movie, American Pie, and continuing as Kat took another bite of her bagel, "Any ways, we were at this seminar that we helped put up the presentation for. A doctor was speaking to the paramedics about malignancy in a patient as part of his presentation. Some went in because they thought they were sick, or others even went into his office because they wanted some attention from a family member even. Could you believe that?"

"How do they know if their lying?"

"Well, he said to look at the patient and go with your instincts as a med. He will look at the note that they jot down, and decide for himself."

"So, it's really up to the doctor…"

"Yeah, pretty much, he's usually the one that calls the shots around there. So any ways, he tells them that they did a test on ten people who thought they had a made up disease."

Kat again raised her eyebrows while taking a sip of water.

"Oh, don't worry; they signed to be tested on."

She lowered her eyebrows and showed an expression to continue as she took yet another bite from her bagel.

"So there they were thinking they had this disease, and they were given five days to react upon it. They were all given made up symptoms from this made up disease right?"

Kat nodded while chewing.

"After the fifth day, they come into the doctor's office saying that they had some of the signs that the illness held."

Kat smiled at the thought of probably being one of those people.

"Seven out of these ten people came back to the doctor's office with the symptoms."

"Seven out of ten?" asked Kat astonished.

"Yup, seven out of ten of these people came back for their appointment telling the doctor about how they were feeling. Believe it, girl, because it's true."

"Oh I do…so then what happened?"

"Well, there they are acting all sick, when the doctor prescribes a '_cure_' for the disease" said Hayley motioning with both index fingers and both middle fingers two quotation marks at the word _cure_.

Katherine chuckled at bit at Hayley's actions knowing that it was going to get interesting.

"They thank the doctor and all he prescribed were sugar pills."

"What are sugar pills?"

"Sugar pills are just small clumps of sugar with a sour extract to make it more realistic."

"Oh, so did they take them?"

"Yeah, it was part of the experiment; and a couple of days later they come back for more _tests_. They are told that the disease is not growing so rapidly and that the pills are really destroying it."

"The doctor said this?"

"Yeah, and they believed it too. So next appointment, about five come back saying that their symptoms are going away."

"When they had nothing at all, or at least, they thought they did."

"Yup. So the doctor tells them to come back in a month to take tests again, and they do."

"And this time, the disease is probably gone right?"

"You guessed it, and so are all the symptoms. So, do you understand what I'm getting at here, Kat?"

"Yeah" said a now blushing shy Kat.

"Didn't the doctor try to act upon the positive side of things?"

"Well, now that you mention it, he did."

"Good, because a doctor could never give in to the patient losing hope. It's against the rules."

"There's rules?"

"Yeah, like the patient confidentiality rule. They can't tell anyone other than the patient about that patient's records and findings. Except if they're under age of course, then the guardian can take care of that."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. And there's the one where the doctor has to tell the patient _all_ of their findings from the tests. Or else, they can get sued."

"Hmm"

"Well, not their opinions on diagnosis until they are really sure."

"Then why did _my_ doctor say anything about leukemia without diagnosing it completely first."

"Oh, he probably just wanted to get you ready, stable, and probably eating again."

"Oh no"

"What?"

"I wasn't supposed to eat before the blood test."

Now it was Hayley who raised her eyebrows.

"That's right, I completely forgot."

"I guess you _don't_ know everything" said Kat slyly with a smile.

Hayley shrugged her shoulders and just smiled.

"Should I go throw up?"

Hayley instantly opened her eyes wide and said, "NO!"

Katherine began to laugh while saying, "I'm just kidding", before getting her cell phone to call the clinic.

After she hung up the phone, she quickly got up and grabbed her wallet.

"What did they say?"

"She said that I didn't have to fast before the test, and it's okay if I take it anyways."

"Oh, I thought you were supposed to keep your stomach empty fore twelve hours."

"Yeah, that's what I thought to, but I guess not." She said handing the money to Hayley and turning around to leave.

"Hey, wait up, your change!" Hayley called out to her before leaving the Café.

"Keep it, it's a tip…for everything…thanks" Kat said with a smile as she turned back to Hayley then turned back again to head to the clinic.

"Wow, I've never gotten paid for advice before; but then again, who's complaining?" Hayley said to no one in particular while picking up the bowl and plate along with the glass of half _full_ water.

* * *

Katherine arrived at the clinic forty-five minutes before they closed. She went up to the desk and signed her name in next to number thirteen. _Oh, I'm number thirteen_, she thought, _this should be pleasant_, in came the sarcasm as she turned to sit down while waiting to be called on.

* * *

"Hayley's Cyberspace, this is Trent speaking, how may I help you?" Trent said after picking up the ringing cordless phone.

"Oh, hey Trent, can I speak to Hayley really quick?"

"Oh, sure Dr. O, no prob, hold on just a sec" Trent said before putting the phone down on the counter.

He went over to get Hayley, while on the way picking up a couple of dishes that were left by earlier customers. As he headed towards the back, he passed by Hayley and said, "Hayley, Dr. O's on the phone. He wants to talk to you."

"Thanks Trent, I'll be right there. Will that be completing your order?" she asked a customer she was waiting on.

As she went over to the counter, she left the order on the back counter to her right so the cook could get it and reached to her left to get the phone a second later.

"Yeah" she simply said.

"Well, well, well, since when do you talk to your favorite customer like that?"

"I don't talk to Cassidy like that" Hayley joked.

Tommy laughed a bit before continuing, "Oh yeah, that's a new one. Any ways, I'm just calling to tell you that we'll be over there around one. Assuming Kat gets back by then."

"Oh, she probably should, she left here about two hours ago."

"Kat went to the Café?"

Hayley immediately knew she had stuck her foot in her mouth and tried to fix it, "Umm, well yeah. Actually, I was taking out the trash to the dumpster and I saw her in my way back into the Café. She was passing by at the time." _Whoa, I've never lied to Tommy…oh wait, yes I have_, she thought, _several times actually._

"Oh, did she stop?"

"Yeah, just for a few minutes. She then left."

"Oh, well did she tell you about going to the clinic?"

"Yeah" Hayley said, thinking Tommy knew something about it, remembering he had gotten upset about what she said last time they were together. She automatically thought he was testy because he knew of Kat's anorexia and the leukocyte test "she told me everything, Tommy."

"Oh, so you know about my point of view. Or did she just tell you hers?"

"Well, she didn't tell me about yours, but I'm sure you support her, right?"

"Of course not! How dare she think she could go about making decisions by herself?"

"Tommy, it's for her best!"

"I don't think so. Sure she thinks she's going to look all messed up in the end, hell, she probably will, but I'll still love her."

"Are you suggesting she doesn't go to the doctor?"

"Of course I am. She doesn't need that Hayley!"

"Tommy, if you only knew this from her point of view…"

"What about my point of view? I'm not getting any younger."

"What does this have to do with you? It's all about her!"

"It has to do with me as much as it has to do with her! It's not all about her Hayley!"

"Tommy, you better just stop talking, right now."

"Oh, I see you're on her side."

"Of course…"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, girls stick together right?"

"Not always, but when it comes down to this, then I guess so!"

"Hayley, she's already twenty eight, and I'm twenty nine!"

"And? It hits people differently Tommy, it doesn't matter about their age. What are you suggesting? That the older you get, the more you're not suppose to take care of yourself?"

"No, I think it's the exact opposite, Hayley, you know that…"

"Yeah, that's why it surprises me so much!"

"Look, all I'm saying is that she has a limited amount of eggs you know?"

"Eggs?"

"Yeah, fertile…"

"Huh?"

"Well, come on, it doesn't take a genius to know that women have a certain amount of time to have babies."

"Babies…you were talking about babies?"

"Yeah, what were _you_ talking about?"

"Oh, umm…" Hayley really thought about being wanted to get swallowed by the ground at that point, "babies?" she questioned him again, "I thought you only wanted one?" she saved herself.

"No, she only told you I wanted one?"

"Well, not exactly, I just assumed. I'm still on her side though."

"I figured that. Anyways, look, we'll talk about this later. You're having lunch with us right?"

"No, in case you didn't get the memo, I'm running a Café here" she said sarcastically.

"Hey, you can take an hour off can't you? Besides, you _are_ the boss."

"Yeah, I guess. So, you'll be here at one right?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, I'll see you here. I'll talk to Trent about taking over."

"Alright, he should like that."

"I know, he's been asking me for a couple of weeks now. I'll see how he does."

"Okay, so we'll see you later."

"Yup, just remember your wallet, and bring plenty of money."

"I'm gonna have to, Rocky's eating with us."

They both laughed once more before Hayley responded, "Alright, well, I gotta get back to work."

"Okay, see ya."

"Bye" she said after a few chuckles.

* * *

Katherine got back home and before opening the door, realized her left arm had a Band-Aid with a cotton ball under it. She counted slowly before getting to three, but pulled it off and hid it quickly while shutting her eyes firmly and making an 'o' shape with her mouth due to the pain when she heard the door being opened and smiled widely and sheepishly towards who was in front of her. 


	16. Chapter 16

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**A/N: **I'm back on the horse; I just hope I don't fall off again.

**Blooming**

**Chapter 16 / A Proper Proposal IV**

"Trent, let me talk to you for a couple of minutes" said Hayley going over to Trent who had just sat down for his fifteen minute break.

"Sure Hayley, what's up?"

"Listen, Tommy is bringing his friends over to eat and I'm thinking of taking maybe a couple of hours off…so…"

Trent's face lit up at this point knowing what was going to be said next.

"…I'm thinking of leaving you in charge of the Café while I'm gone."

"Hayley, are you serious?" asked Trent with enthusiasm in his voice.

"But, you're going to have to show me that you can do this okay? So what I'm going to do is call Brad and see if he can come in to work today. I'll give you another worker and just sit back and see how you do for this afternoon."

"Alright, that's great! I mean, sure, that's cool." Trent said with great joy in his voice then turning it down a bit for a more mature tone.

Hayley simply smiled at him as she got up, "Okay, I'll be right back."

"Sure thing" said Trent not being able to hold in his smile.

* * *

Katherine smiled as she crumpled the Band Aid and cotton ball in her right hand and put it swiftly in her pocket as the door flung open.

"Hey girl, took you long enough!" said Kim in a cheery mood.

"Oh, you scared me" said Kat being caught off guard by the door being opened.

"Well, I was in a bit of a hurry. Tommy wants us to leave at one, and I have to look my best so I was coming to my truck to get some nice clothes."

"Looking great for lunch?"

"Yeah"

"Or looking great for Rocky?" Kat asked slyly.

Kim gave her a devilish smirk and just simply ignored the comment.

* * *

"Okay Trent, Brad said he couldn't make it, but Pete will be here in a couple of minutes" said Hayley as she headed towards the sink where Trent was washing dishes.

"Alright, Pete's kinda cool."

"This isn't about who you get along with Trent" explained Hayley.

"I know, I know, I'm just excited."

"Well, go on to the kitchen, I wanna talk to all of you together."

Trent did as he was told and headed to the Cyberspace Café kitchen and seeing upon arrival the six employees that he will have to be managing, minus Pete.

"Okay everybody," Hayley began, "I called this little meeting for a quick introduction to a new possible temporary manager. Now I'm going to take an hour off and leave Trent in charge. You are to treat him with the same kind of respect that you treat me with. If all goes well, I might just take the afternoon off and get back for closing. That's assuming you all can handle me not being here. So, with that said, you can all get back to work, and if you have any questions, remember, I'm not here so you're going to have to go to Trent…Oh, and another thing, Pete is coming in to work in a couple of minutes so you can put him in the kitchen…Any questions before I'm unavailable?"

The employees just looked around at one another and shook their heads.

"Alright then…Trent, is there anything you want to add?" she turned to Trent.

"Umm, well I just wanna go over the assigned tables, back, and kitchen for now" said Trent in a confident voice.

"Very well…I'm gonna go to the front and take care of things right now. Don't take long okay?"

"Alright" said Trent with a smile and then turned to _his_ employees and started to go over things.

* * *

Hayley was now behind the front counter waiting for what seemed to be five minutes or so until she saw a familiar face walk through the door.

"Kat, Kim…man, when Tommy says one he means one" Hayley said with laughter in her voice.

Trent came out from the back and started going towards the table the two girls were heading to.

Jason, Rocky, and Adam were behind the girls going over to sit down as well.

"Hey" said Trent in a friendly voice.

"Hey" the girls countered.

"Hi" said Adam as he sat down next to Kim.

"Nice to see you again Trent" said Rocky as he sat next to Adam.

"So, Hayley, having lunch with us today?" asked a very polite Jason pulling out a chair for her and motioning for her to sit down.

"Well…" she said while sitting down next to Rocky, "as a matter of fact I am…thank you Jason."

"You're welcome" he said as he went over and sat on Kimberly's other side, "where'd Kat go?"

"To the restroom, to wash her hands" Kim said.

"Ah, cleanliness…it skipped a generation with me" said Rocky making the others laugh.

"Would you like for me to come back and let you get settled in with the rest of your party to order your drinks?" asked Trent.

The others just looked at Trent with confusion.

"Oh, he's in charge" explained Hayley.

"Ahh," came from the rest as understanding Trent's morale behavior.

It wasn't like him to be rude at all; it was his tone of voice that made the others somewhat skeptical.

Katherine came back to take a seat next to Jason.

"Hey" she said while putting a hand on Trent's shoulder before sitting down and continuing, "are the others coming?"

"Yeah, they'll probably be here in a little while." Trent answered.

"Where's Tommy, wasn't he with you guys?" questioned Kat.

"Umm…yeah…he was…but he said…he…" started Jason with halting words.

"had to find another parking space" finished Adam.

"Well, what was wrong with the one we had?"

"Too much sun" answered Rocky quickly.

_A little too quickly_, thought Kat.

"So" said Jason quickly, "what do you guys have to drink around here?"

"Check the back of the menu for refreshments" said Kim.

"Oh" said Jason turning the menu over.

At that, Tommy came in putting his keys in his pocket.

"Sorry I took so long, my keys got jammed again. It took me forever to get them out" he said as an excuse.

"I thought you were looking for another parking space" said Kat wrinkling her eyebrows a bit.

Tommy went over to sit by his fiancée and put his left arm around her while saying, "Yeah, well…after I got another parking spot…my key got jammed."

"You must really be the flash to find another parking space,_ and_ free your key out so quickly" said Kat, starting to get annoyed at this point.

"Well…"

"And tell me, why did you get another parking spot?"

"Because…we were too close to…"

"Because, of too much sun" answered Rocky again not wanting Tommy to say anything else.

"I was asking _him_" said Kat motioning her head towards Tommy.

"Because of too much sun" said Tommy with a smile.

"Fine" said Kat making Tommy sigh internally with relief yet in the back of her mind still being annoyed at not knowing what he had under his sleeve.

* * *

Lunch went smoothly with Kat ordering a vinaigrette salad with water, Kim ordering a parmesan pasta salad with a Margarita hearing how good it was along with Hayley, Jason and Adam both ordered a sirloin steak combo with a Bud Light, Tommy ordered a chicken fried steak sandwich with a GMD, and Rocky ordered a hamburger with fries and a Pepsi.

"Man, lunch was good" said Rocky rubbing his belly with a toothpick in his mouth still sitting at the table.

"Yeah Hayley, the food's really good here" said Kim.

"Thanks" Hayley thanked everyone now who was saying the same.

"So Hayley, are you gonna get outta here?" questioned Tommy.

"Yeah, Trent did a great job with the Café, I'm sure I could leave for a while."

"Alrighty then, let's get outta here" said Jason, getting up.

Everyone followed and went out the door except for Tommy who stayed to pay the tab.

"Tommy, you don't have to pay" said Hayley, staying with him.

"No, but I want to. We ate way too much for me not to pay."

"Take it as a thank you for allowing me to take a day off."

"Well…look what I got Kat" said Tommy pulling out a black velvet box from his right pocket.

Hayley gasped as she retrieved the box and didn't notice Tommy paying for the meals right in front of her as she pulled out the medium sized diamond ring from the stripped case.

"Oh my God, Tommy, it's beautiful" she said in a whisper, still getting caught off guard by the gift she held for Kat.

As she looked up she noticed Trent giving Tommy his change and Tommy then giving Trent a hefty tip.

"Tommy!" she yelled after anything else could be done.

"Sorry Hayley, I had to distract you with _something_."

"Well…okay…when are you going to propose?" she asked not caring about the bill anymore.

"Well…I…actually sort of already did."

"Huh?"

"Well, I kinda just blurted it out and I didn't give her a ring so I'm going to do it right this time."

"Hm…I see. Well…" she said putting the ring back in the box and handing it over to him, "good luck with that" she said with a huge smile crossing her face from being so happy for the both of them.

"Thanks" he said as he put it back in his pocket, "you know, it's strange, Conner, Kira, and Ethan never showed up."

"Yeah, I know, I realized that when we were done. I wonder what happened to them."

"Hey Trent, contact the others, see if they're okay. If neither of them answers, contact me immediately."

"You got it Dr. O," Trent said as he was still near the cash register.

"Hmm" said Tommy shrugging it off and going back to his jeep accompanied by Hayley.

* * *

"So, where do you guys feel like going?" Tommy asked getting inside the jeep.

"I feel like going to Hayley's ride" said a struggling Rocky who not only felt full, but tight as well from being in the back of Tommy's jeep along with Kimberly, Jason, and Adam.

Katherine, from the passenger side looked back and started laughing as she saw Rocky struggle to get comfortable in between Adam and Jason. The other two made faces as they too struggled a bit to get comfortable which made Kat and Kim laugh hysterically at this point.

"Look you guys," Kim said after she had finished laughing, "I think two of you should go with Hayley" she finally said.

The others just turned to Hayley who was waiting next to the jeep for instructions of where they were going, but couldn't help but laugh at what she saw in front of her as well. They all three gave her the puppy dog eyes and she laughed even harder.

"Okay, two of you can come with me…I don't even know why you got in there in the first place knowing I was going too" she said with laugher still in her voice.

"So, where are…we, ugh…going?" asked Kim while she was finally getting to her full comfort zone having Rocky and Adam jump out of the Jeep.

"How 'bout a bar? I really need a drink" said Kat pushing her head back towards the seat not noticing Tommy looking at her with awe.

"A drink; well, Ms. Alcoholic, when did _you_ start drinking?" he asked.

"Didn't I tell you guys? I started going to AA meetings like three months ago."

Katherine looked at all of them as they stared at her with the same expression Tommy had on his face with the exception of Hayley.

"I'm just kidding you guys" she said with laughter in her voice, "it's called a sense of humor" she added after she saw her friends not changing their expressions.

Adam blinked as well as Jason. Kimberly blew out a breath of air making her lips shrink. Tommy was still baffled as Rocky then stated, "Well I don't know, between every joke there's a truth, I always say."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I fixed the chapters so 14 wouldn't be so long. Well, anyways, see you next chap…soon I hope. Ooh, I better not say that, cuz every time I do I seem to take forever. I hope you guys didn't get lost, I'm really sorry if you did. 


	17. Chapter 17

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

**Blooming**

**Chapter 17 / A Proper Proposal V**

"Hey, where were you guys? Dr. O wanted me to contact youto see if you were alright." asked Trent as he saw his three friends come in with a tool box, loose papers, and two folders right after Tommy and the others left.

"We were at Conner's getting the stuff. You know, for all the commotion that's going on, you shouldn't be talking to us, Trent" said Kira as she saw a number of customers walk in through the doors.

At that, Trent instantly headed towards the table he saw the people going to, "I'll talk to you guys later" he said while walking towards the customers.

"Where's Hayley?" asked Ethan, looking around suspiciously.

The others looked around as well, and didn't see her anywhere.

"Well bro, you better get started before she shows up" Conner told Ethan while patting his back and having him nod.

"Look, Conner and I will be the look outs while you go over to the corner computer and get everything ready" said Kira taking demand.

Ethan took a few steps before coming back to his friends and saying, "I don't know you guys, what if Hayley gets in trouble. I mean, that's exactly why I didn't want to do it from _my_ computer."

Kira looked at him with disappointment, "You better not be chickening out Ethan. You're the only one that could hack into the system. Besides, there's plenty of students that use the computers here, she can't get in trouble for that."

"Yeah" Conner added, "Hayley has a lot of money stashed away, she'll fight it if it goes to court or anything" he said easily.

"Oh my God, court!" Ethan yelled a small whisper at Conner's comment.

"What Conner here…" Kira said while elbowing Conner, "meant to say was that if something does come up, then Hayley won't have any problem with dealing with it."

"Guys, I already got in trouble once for this before" Ethan began before getting a nasty look from his friends.

"Hey, everything's going to plan. Even better" said Trent as he was passing by his friends with the customers' orders, "Hayley's not here, you better get to it Ethan."

The other two became wide-eyed at that.

"You hear that man, Hayley's not here. Get your butt over there before she comes and finds out what we're doing" said an enthusiastic Conner.

"Yeah Ethan, go now or you'll chicken out on us for sure" added Kira as Trent went to the back of the counter to put the orders in.

"Why do I have to do everything?" Ethan asked while turning around to head towards the computer.

"Everything?" asked Conner.

"Yeah" added Kira, "we're gonna be doing all the leg work. We'll be over here calling Dr. O to tell him we're fine if you need anything."

Ethan didn't respond because of the fear in him. He knew that hacking into computers would get him into a lot of trouble, and if someone found out what they were doing, he'd be in trouble for sure.

* * *

"So, how's this?" asked Tommy holding Kat's couch in his hands with Jason at the other end. 

Adam and Rocky walked in holding a heavy coffee table. They were both panting as Kat, Kim, and Hayley were sitting down watching them.

"Umm…how 'bout a little more to the left?" asked Kat.

"Oh, I don't know Kat, if they put it in between the two lamp tables I think it would be better" said Hayley putting her two cents in.

Kimberly smiled and laughed at the guys still holding up the couch.

"Well, where do you want _this_?" asked a panting Rocky.

"Oh, that definitely goes in the center" said Kim.

The other two females nodded their heads while taking a sip of their water.

"Kat, I'm starting to sweat here" said a tired Tommy.

"Yeah Kat, make up your mind" Jason said expressing his tiredness as well.

"Well, that goes there for sure" Adam said as he and Rocky put the coffee table in the center of the living room. As soon as they did, his cell phone rang with Tanya and his number on the caller id. "Oh, it's Tanya, I gotta take this" he said before heading into the kitchen.

"Tell 'er I say 'hi'!" yelled Kat before Adam entered the kitchen.

"Kat!" yelled Tommy just completely frustrated at her at this point.

"Ay! What? Oh yeah, the couch. Umm…well right there where you're at is fine I guess…for now" she added.

"I don't get it" said Rocky frustrated and tired at this point, "we were supposed to go out and do something and instead here we are putting Kat's things in the house!"

"Calm down Rocky, you're getting good exercise from all of this" said Kat also frustrated that the guys were still acting like children at Tommy's idea.

"Well, you just better tip me good after all of this" he said while going over and sitting down on her couch before getting a look from Tommy and Jason.

Adam came in still holding his cell phone in his hands.

"Alright Rocky, you want a tip?" she said slyly, "that Caesar hair cut went out with the nineties."

Rocky made his mouth in an 'O' shape and expressed with his facial expression a hurt feeling while everyone else in the room started laughing hysterically at Kat's joke about Rocky still wearing the same hairstyle he did back in high school.

"How dare you Ms. _Oh my God Tommy harder!_" he said in his best woman voice causing Kat to now stop laughing and gasp at his comment.

Everyone that was laughing at Kat's joke now started laughing even harder at Rocky's for the exception of a now blushing Kat and a quiet Tommy looking in her direction for her expression.

"Tanya….wants to…talk to…you!" laughed Adam handing Kat the phone and seeing her now being so bright red and just grasping the phone quickly and running into the kitchen as everyone was still laughing.

"Hello?" she questioned not caring who it was on the other line just now. She was just glad of getting out of there.

"_Hey girl! How's it going?_" asked Tanya.

"Oh, fine Tanya, thanks. Except for that remark Rocky made a while ago."

"_Yeah, I heard everyone laughing. What's was 'that' all about_?"

"Oh my God Tanya! I think he heard Tommy and I having sex this morning."

"_Why do you say that?_" she questioned while a smile and a small laugh escaped her.

"Let's just say, I _know_ he heard us" she said not wanting to give anything away.

"Well, you know Rocky girl."

"Yeah, I know. The bad thing is I know him a little too well and just completely walked into _that_ one."

"_So, how you been?_"

"Oh, good. Fantastic now."

"_Really? What's the occasion?_"

"Well, Tommy and I had talked about how I didn't really feel like I lived her fully yet so he decided since he has Jason, Rocky, and Adam here why not help us bring in my furniture from the storage."

"Kat_, that's what you've been telling me that you wanted him to do!_"

"Yeah, and he finally did it. Tanya, I'm so happy."

"_Trust me, you better cherish these precious moments of a man being so considerate; cuz believe me, once they know you love them, they start acting like men again._"

Katherine couldn't hold in her laughter from her friend's comment as they both kept talking for several more minutes.

* * *

When Kat came in she went into the living room to give Adam his phone back but couldn't find him or anyone else for that matter. 

She looked around the living room as she set the cell phone down on her coffee tableand took in a deep breath as she saw most of her belongings in _her_ house letting a smile break out softly on her face.

"Hey" she heard from behind her as a hand was placed gently on her shoulder.

Kat turned around to see Tommy's dark brown eyes piercing into hers. Her now small smile got even larger as he placed his hands on her hips.

"So how do you like it?" he asked.

"Tommy, I love it" she said as she looked around one more time.

"Good, cuz I love _you_, and I'd do anything for you Kat" he said as she took him in to embrace him tightly.

"Tommy" she said as she held him closer, adding with a small whisper near his ear, "thank you."

Tommy felt a stinging feeling in his lower chest as she said those words. He had never in his life felt so close to her as he did now. _It's time_, he thought.

"Katherine" he said pulling away from her a bit.

Kat at the sound of her formal name being used pulled away as well and looked at him puzzled.

"Yeah?"

"Kat, there's something I've been wanting to do since, you know,that day at the cabin."

"Really? What is it?"

"This" he said as he grabbed both her hands into his and looked into her light blue eyes. "Kat, I want to tell you how I feel about you."

"Tommy, I know how you feel about me" she said with easiness and a small laughing smile.

"No Kat; I mean, how I really, _really_ feel about you"

This made her smile fade while listening attentively to what Tommy was about to say to her.

"Kat, I met you at the Youth Center being under Rita's Spell. You looked so beautiful, stunning, and intriguing above all. I don't know what it was, but there was just something about you that stood out to me. You received the power coin and spent even more time in my life. Kat, I was so happy about that."

By the end of that sentence, Kat was starting to feel her smile come back before going away with the next.

"When Kim broke up with me, you were there to heal my wounds. I _did _have open wounds but they weren't from heartbreak, but from something more. I don't know if it was the guilt of liking someone else while having a girlfriend, or just plainly not doing anything about it like a coward."

"Tommy" she whispered.

"I just couldn't tell you how I felt about you. With every passing day it was as if each one of those wounds was getting salt poured all over it. Let me tell you, with every passing moment I couldn't stand to even look in the mirror anymore from being so scared."

"About asking me out?"

"Yeah, and losing you afterwards. I honestly felt I wasn't good enough for you; but something just pushed me to do it…well, a certain _someone_."

When Tommy said this it made Kat laugh for a quick instant.

"It was by far the best move I ever made in my life. Kat, we shared so much with each other; it was as if I had found _the_ person I was meant to be with in life; until…" he paused at this thinking he couldn't be able to continue.

"Until I broke up with you" she said with sadness in her voice.

"Yeah" he said looking down. "It even hurt to take a breath. I didn't know when night ended or when day began."

"Tommy, I'm so sorry about that."

Shaking his head he said, "No Kat. _I'm _the one who's sorry. I kept a secret from you. Nobody deserves to be lied to; especially the one you love. I remember when I saw you again at Reefside" a half grin now appeared on his face, "the blood rushing through my veins up to my head. I just thought that I had become completely delusional in thinking about you so much that I was actually seeing your face in my mind right in front of me."

This made Kat laugh and blush at the same time while looking down sheepishly at the floor as she thought the same thing.

"Kat" he said again taking his right hand and lifting her chin to meet her eyes, "I want to let you know that no matter how much it takes; how much we have to go through…I'll always love you...no matter what."

"Tommy" is all Kat could say with a choked up tone before she saw him kneeling down on his left knee while taking her left hand into his.

"Katherine, you're all I would ever ask God for. Would you give me the honor of making me the happiest man in the world in accepting to become my wife?"

As he slipped the diamond ring across her finger she could feel a stream of tears roll down her face.

"Tommy, of course I will" she managed to say before not being able to wait for him to get up and simply knelt down in front of him as they both hugged so tightly while sneaking small kisses in between each tighter hug.

"Kat, I love you so much" he said as he took her into his arms even tighter.

"Tommy" she said in a sad tone, "I might have leukemia."

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I know, short chapter. Just know that I want reviews for this one cuz I really want to know how I did. And well, e-mails would be preferable because I don't think that review thingy is working or something cause I definitely did not deny one of my favorite authors to review (ULTRA SONIC) if you're wondering; any who, if you want, you can go ahead and review on the Budding like he did, in which I thank you very much. Well, see ya next chap, which will definitely be my last this time. Oh, and to ULTRA SONIC, boy DT Express better not be your last story cuz I love it so much that I really don't want it to end. 


	18. Chapter 18

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers, or any of the characters in this story. Not even the ones I made up. Go ahead and use them, I don't really mind. _

_Oh, and I will be using lyrics from the very beautiful song, 'This Used to be My Playground' / performed by Madonna / __Written by Madonna and Shep Pettibone / __Originally__ from the movie 'A League of Their Own' / Appearing on the 'Barcelona Gold' album. Sorry, I cut out a lot of lyrics, but you'll get the point._

_**A/N: **So I'm not such a Madonna fan, sue me; sorry, but I love that movie and this song fits perfectly to what's gonna go down. Any ways, hope you guys like this one. Now let us see if I could finish Budding. I got fired just yesterday so I'm pretty sure I'll have plenty of more time on my hands to do Budding; well, until I get another job of course._

**Blooming**

**Chapter 18 / Looking Back**

Jason, Adam, Rocky, and Kim had decided to all go in Jason's car and Kim's truck back to Angel Grove. Rocky had placed all his belongings in back of Kim's truck while Adam placed his in Jason's trunk.

"I'm really gonna miss you guys" said Kat as she hugged Adam, Rocky, and Jason at the same time.

"Don't worry Kat, Tommy promised that he'd go back to Angel Grove some day" reassured Jason as their hug broke.

"I don't know…think about it you guys, it's Tommy. We'd be lucky if he remembers where Angel Grove is" said Kim going over to hug Kat while the others laughed.

Tommy went over to handclasp the guys as Tommy's rangers arrived.

"Hey Dr. O!" yelled Conner.

"Cool, we're not too late" yelled Ethan as they saw they had arrived just in time to say goodbye.

Hayley was getting their lunch out to the vehicles as Kim approached Kat.

"I'm really happy for you" she said.

"Thanks Kimberly; and I'm proud of you" said Kat as they hugged each other quickly before Kat turning to go help Hayley and Kim going over to say her goodbyes to Tommy.

"So, this is it huh?" she said.

"Yup, looks like it" he countered.

"Finally settling down after being a womanizer for so many years" she said jokingly.

Tommy laughed while hugging her and saying, "I'm gonna miss you Kim."

"And I'm gonna miss you too Tommy."

They parted ways as Tommy went over to Jason again whom was just finishing his goodbyes to the rangers.

"Thank you bro" he said before going over to him and giving him a quick manly hug which surprised Jason entirely "for everything."

"No problem man" said Jason with a smile, "anytime."

* * *

"Hurry up Ethan, I'm hungry" whined Conner already wanting to go to Hayley's.

"Umm…" said Kira before keeping the insult to herself and just deciding to let Ethan talk about what he had done yet again for the umpteenth time.

"You guys are gonna have exactly four point nine minutes to go through everything" said Ethan.

"Alright" the three said in unison.

The teens were now again in Trent's room going over the plans after having defeated Mesagog two weeks before.

"Now remember, the alarms are gonna go off exactly two point six minutes after you get back."

Again they nodded.

"Wait, will that be enough time to get the bombs in?" asked Conner.

"Dude, it's more than enough. We just each have to cover like what three doors?" Trent said easily.

"That's almost one door a minute" Kira realized.

"You guys can't get more time; if you do, the teacher will definitely suspect something" said Ethan.

"Alright" said Kira finally just wanting to go over the plan again, "so Conner, you're taking the right wing, Trent you're taking the left and the back. I'll take the front and then go help you with the back."

"Yeah"

* * *

"I'm not hungry" cried Kat holding her stomach with one hand and pushing Tommy away with the other.

"Kat, you heard the doctor, you have to eat" he said while wanting to give her a spoonful of soup.

"Tommy, stop treating me like a child" she said already getting frustrated.

"Well…maybe if you'd stop acting like one…"

Kat gave him a look before he put the spoon back into the bowl and continued to speak.

"I'm just glad everything came out alright in the tests."

"Yeah, I know. I was so scared, Tommy. You don't know how scared I was to think that I could have cancer…just for not eating."

"You know, you say that, yet act as if nothing happened."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm trying to help you through this and you just won't help yourself Kat. You said it yourself; you were scared that you might have cancer. Just because you don't have it now doesn't mean you can't get it in the future. Please Kat, try to eat…for me."

He looked deep into her eyes sadly as he rubbed his thumb over the diamond on her finger.

She then realized how alone she had been acting having Tommy there for her the whole time. She simply nodded as she took in some warm soup and felt its heat making itself down her throat.

* * *

"So, what are you guys gonna do after graduation?" Hayley questioned the four teens in front of her on the other side of the bar.

"I don't know" said Conner, "join the soccer team in Reefside State University I guess; well, until I get discovered that is" he said cockily.

"Well, I got offered a full scholarship to attend Yale University for their advanced technology courses" said Ethan proudly.

"Art school for me" said Trent knowing that Hayley already knew about art school from prom night.

"Kira?" she asked.

"Well, I _did_ get offered a contract to sing background vocals for James Blunt; but…"

"You know what they say, to get discovered you gotta be out there" Hayley assured.

Kira smiled and nodded.

"Yet, I don't know how you're gonna pull all that off after getting released from jail" Hayley simply said.

"What?" came out of the teens' mouths as they were all wide eyed.

"Oh come on, you don't expect to go through these computers, hack into the school's system, get away with a prank, and have me not know about it do you?"

They all looked around suspiciously as if being little angels.

"Oh, come on!" said Hayley, "I know your times; although I don't know what it is you have planned though."

"The teens just looked at each other and decided to just cave in and tell her all about it."

* * *

"I was thinking about going to check out the dance school the girls told me about weeks ago, but I never got around to going" Kat said as she and Tommy were now on the couch. He was lying on the couch having her sitting in between his legs as he had his arms wrapped around her stroking her hair gently as she talked.

"Well, what's stopping you?"

"I don't know…fear I guess."

"Fear?"

"Yeah, I don't know, like…if something's going to tell me that I was a failure as a dancer."

"Kat, didn't you dance professionally for years."

"Yeah, but it was only for two years. Then I quit."

"Kat…"

"I'm nothing but a quitter, Tommy."

"So, does that mean I'm a quitter too if I quit racing?"

"Oh my God! We're both losers!" she said jokingly.

Tommy laughed at this and just continued stroking her hair.

"Listen Kat, there are going to be a lot of memories in your life…you just have to think about how much each one means to you. Besides…I find it easier just not to look back at all and just look forward to the future."

"I guess" she said, still not convinced.

"So, you wanna…?"

"Again? Tommy, are you some kind of robot or something?"

* * *

"You guys better not get caught; and if this plan goes off without a hitch; don't tell anybody; at all" Hayley said after being explained the details of their end-of-school prank that was going to be taking place in just a matter of hours now.

* * *

Tommy and Kat had taken row of their third period classes as usual about seven minutes ago.

The school monitors had gone off to the back offices to have their meeting about who was going to cover what doors for there not to be any disturbances when school was to let out.

Ethan just simply kept looking at the clock over and over again in his English class as he saw from the corner of his eye as Trent raised his hand.

"Yes Trent" asked his teacher.

"Can I be excused to the bathroom please?" asked Trent shaking one of his legs.

"Sure Trent, go right ahead."

As Trent was heading out the door, he saw the back of Conner's head heading to 'the spot'.

He walked a couple of forty feet behind him, following him before seeing Kira turn the corner and coming their way.

They all turned towards 'the spot's direction one after the other. Kira went in through the cafeteria, Conner went in through the first hallway, and Trent went in through the third hallway making the three disappear not to make it suspicious although still noticing that there was no one in sight, nor the cameras were moving; being deactivated by Ethan.

They all held their breaths as they arrived near the side doors where the field was. Conner opened a small janitorial compartment on the lower wall and retrieved the tool box.

"Alright guys, ready?" asked Conner.

"Ready" said Trent and Kira.

They all took a deep breath before putting on their white gloves and getting the tools necessary to do their job.

"We've gotta run to the first doors and walk fast to the second ones" Kira said as she was nearly ready for everything.

"Remember, don't worry about getting stunk up" Trent reminded her.

"Yeah, or we'll really get caught if we're the only ones that don't stink" said Conner getting up from his squatted position and putting the tool box back. "You guys remember where to leave everything after you're done right?"

"Yeah" they both said in unison before the three put their right fists in together and breaking to their assigned posts.

Kira ran fast to the front doors as Trent ran even faster to the left wing of the school. Conner ran faster than both towards the right wing and had to lock up four assigned doors by himself.

He opened a door, hammered a nail inside of it and placed a rubber ball which was squeezed tightly when the door was closed again having the nail inside of it knowing that as soon as the door was forcefully opened it would explode. He went ahead and placed a number of pennies under the door and started banging at it with the hammer. Once he felt the pennies would hold the door stuck for an entirety of force to be used to open it, he went over to the next door and did the same.

Kira had finished two doors by this time and went to the back to help Trent with his doors in which he had two on the side, and four more to do in the back.

_Oh yeah, like three doors for each_, she thought sarcastically as she decided to run instead of walk fast towards the back doors.

She arrived and saw Trent already there working on his second door.

"Hey" she whispered.

"Hey" he countered before adding, "started over there and work yourself in" he said pointing at the far left doors.

"Alright" she said before hurrying over to the other doors.

They were done in a matter of three minutes which gave them a couple of seconds to take the supplies back and get to class before the other two minutes were up with the cameras getting turned back on; having the next part of the plan take course.

Trent went back into class having Ethan constantly look at the upper clock again as he started to sweat a bit with a worried look on his face.

Trent smiled at him while winking as a sign of everything being on schedule. He went over to his seat and sat down, knowing that the other two were now doing the same.

* * *

"I'll probably start teaching next year assuming I check the place out fir…" Kat started to respond to a fellow ballet student's question as she heard the fire alarms go off, also being handy work from Ethan, making her stop in mid sentence.

"Okay class, you know the drill, no pushing, no running, no…" she trailed off as she got up and lead the class out of the room.

* * *

"What do you mean the door won't open?" asked Tommy.

"It won't open" said a struggling Edna.

"Hold on, let me see" he said not noticing the huge crowd that was forming in back of him now.

The monitors at this point had heard the alarms and were going to different doors to investigate what was going on.

* * *

Complete chaos was forming now at the door that Kat was waiting to get opened.

"What's going on?" asked a student being pushed by the crowd.

"I don't know" she simply said.

Kat swayed her way through the crowd of chaotic kids and saw a teacher struggling with the door.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It looks like the door won't open" he said pushing it even harder.

* * *

Kira was laughing internally as were the others that knew about the prank as they felt the crowd feel like the middle of a bunch of ants getting sprayed with water.

* * *

Tommy took a few steps back before pushing the door with all of his might causing the pennies to come out flying all over the place being unnoticed; because of the stench that was coming through.

* * *

"Here, on the count of three we'll both push the door open" said Kat.

"Alright" said the teacher in front of her who was still trying to open the door.

"Okay, one…two…three!" she yelled as they both pushed the door open.

Little did they know that the pressure from the door being opened all the way popped the rubber ball and out came a skunk like stench entering the hallway.

* * *

By this time, Kira's awaiting door was being opened as where she tried really hard not to cover her nose before it was opened; which she managed to handle with calmness.

* * *

Conner laughed as the teachers were still trying to get the door to open before he went over and said, "Here, let me help."

They stood back and let him ram the door forcefully with his foot and kicked it as hard as he could to get it open.

The stench quickly overtook the hallway in which he was very proud of.

* * *

Trent looked over to Ethan having been outside by now just both trying hard not to talk about their prank just yet for fear of getting found out.

As they saw the fire department arrive, they both looked at each other again with worried looks on their faces but didn't want to give anything away.

* * *

"So it was you four who pulled that prank?" asked a frustrated Tommy.

The four teens, Hayley, and Tommy were now sitting in the living room, showered and clean, discussing the prank they had pulled.

"Yeah, sorry Dr. O, but we had to do _something_" defended Ethan.

Tommy just cocked his head to one side and grinned. "Well, I have to say, that was _some_ prank."

"So, you're not mad at us?" questioned Conner.

"We could've gotten in a lot of trouble" said Kira.

"It's just not like you to not get mad" added Trent.

"Guys, I'm too happy in life to be mad right now" said Tommy with everyone knowing that he meant having Katherine back in his life.

"Hey, how 'bout we celebrate all this at the Café?" asked Hayley.

A series of 'yeahs' and 'sures' came her way; all except for Tommy.

"Sorry, Hayley. Let me wait for Kat. She's at the studio right now checking it out. I promise, as soon as she comes we'll head over there."

"Alright" said Hayley, "You promised" she said before getting up.

The others followed but not before saying their goodbyes to their mentor.

* * *

Kat walked into the dance studio and saw the mirrors all around on the walls. She noticed the beautiful waxed wooded floor and the balancing bars on both sides of the room. She took in a deep breath and reminisced about her childhood, when all she thought about was dancing.

_This used to be my playground  
This used to be my childhood dream  
This used to be the place I ran to  
Whenever I was in need  
Of a friend  
Why did it have to end  
And why do they always say  
_

_Don't look back  
Keep your head held high  
Don't ask them why  
Because life is short  
And before you know  
You're feeling old  
And your heart is breaking  
Don't hold on to the past  
Well that's too much to ask _

Live and learn  
Well the years they flew  
And we never knew  
We were foolish then  
We would never tire  
And that little fire  
Is still alive in me  
It will never go away

Say goodbye to yesterday  
Those are words I'll never say

* * *

Tommy heard Kat's car drive up and instantly stood to get his keys so they could both leave.

_Well, she's out in the car already, she could drive us there_, he thought as he put his keys back on the table.

Before being able to open the door, she was already there.

"Hey" he said with a small chuckle, "that was fast. How'd you get from your car to the door so…"

"Tommy" Kat stopped him, "we need to talk."

"About?"

"Me…and you…"

"Kat…_no_" he whispered a bit shaking his head knowing what she would say next.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **Tan Tan (Oh wait, that was Spanish). Any ways, so what you guys think? Hope you're not mad at me for making her go back, but come on, she's passionate about this; feel her pain. Oh, and about Kim and Kat's hug; hey I'm a girl, I know what goes on in our minds (in Kim: That bitch stole my boyfriend) (in Kat: That bitch still likes my boyfriend). I don't know if you're a girl in here and you think that's wrong, but in _my_ perspective I think that's what's going on. Anyways, review please; I really want to know what you guys think. Go ahead, give me your flames; I know you want to. 


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